Songfacts®:

• The abusive relationship Gerson endured, which ended in divorce, led to this song, which the New York singer/songwriter composed during sessions at a therapists' office - not for therapy, but for use of the room, which she had from 6am until the first patient came in. Gerson told us: "'Black Water' was twelve minutes long when I first wrote it. It was a story that felt as if it came off the walls of the therapists' office I was writing in. I even wondered if someone had confessed their guilt of murdering someone and I was just hearing it echo off the walls. It was hard to chop it down, and it's still seven minutes long. It is the story of a man confessing to the mother of the woman he's killed why and how he's killed her. He asks for forgiveness, because the woman was pregnant with another man's child and she refused to marry him, even though he was willing to 'save her.' A woman is most likely, if she is going to be murdered, to be murdered by a man who 'loves her.' Domestic violence is the core of all war." (Ruth's website is ruthgerson.com.)