Songfacts®:

• An aching song about an overwhelming feeling of jealousy, Etheridge wrote "Bring Me Some Water" after entering an open relationship with her girlfriend. Even though Etheridge agreed to the arrangement, she found herself tormented by the idea of her lover in the embrace of another woman.
  
  In our interview with Etheridge, she said: "It was very painful. It was very true. It was awful."
• Etheridge often writes songs about turbulent relationships, some more personal than others. She frames them in a way that she could be singing about either a man or a woman, and since this song was released five years before Etheridge came out as gay, most listeners assumed she was singing about a man.
• This was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, losing to Tina Turner's Tina Live in Europe. Etheridge performed the song at the ceremony.
• This is one of Etheridge's most famous songs, but you wouldn't know it by its chart performance. Etheridge was an unknown artist when the song was released, and it never cracked the Hot 100 (it did make #10 on the Mainstream Rock chart - her first song to appear on any Billboard chart). As she built a following, the song got a lot more attention and a fair amount of airplay. It is also one of her concert staples, which has helped keep it alive.
• Etheridge performed this song in 1988 on her first David Letterman Show appearance. This was her first time on network TV.
• Despite its subject matter, Etheridge says that this is a fun song to play live, and it gets a huge reaction from the crowd. The song evokes a very difficult time, but she has learned to deal with it. "I'm not there emotionally, yet I can go right back there and jump into that suit and play," she told us.
• The video was directed by Anthony Van Den Ende, who also did Etheridge's video for "Like the Way I Do." The video shoot was where Etheridge met Julie Cypher, who was an assistant director. Etheridge and Cypher struck up a personal and professional relationship, and were a couple throughout the '90s.
• Etheridge found herself in another non-monogamous relationship after she started seeing Julie Cypher in the late '80s. While Cypher wanted to explore, Etheridge wanted to be exclusive. Once again, Etheridge channeled these feelings into songs: "I'm the Only One," and later, "Lover Please."