Album: Before These Crowded Streets (1998)

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• Come out come out
  No use in hiding
  Come out come out
  Can you not see
  There's no place here
  What were you expecting
  No room for both
  Just room for me
  So you lay your arms down
  Yes I will call this home
  
  Away away
  You have been banished
  Your land is gone and given me
  And here I will spread my wings
  Yes I will call this home
  What's this you say
  You feel the right to remain
  Then stay and I will bury you
  What's that you say
  Your father's spirit still lives in this place
  I will silence you
  
  Here's the hitch
  Your horse is leaving
  Don't miss the boat
  It's leaving now
  And as you go I will spread my wings
  Yes I will call this home
  I have no time to justify to you
  Fool you're blind, move aside from me
  All I can say to you my new neighbor
  Is you must move on or I will bury you
  
  Now as I rest my feet by this fire
  Those hands once warmed here
  I have retired them
  I can breathe my own air
  And I can sleep more soundly
  Upon these poor souls
  I'll build heaven and call it home
  
  Cause you're all dead now
  I live with my justice
  I live with my greedy need
  I live with no mercy
  I live with my frenzied feeding
  I live with my hatred
  I live with my jealousy
  I live with the notion
  That I don't need anyone but me
  Don't drink the water
  There's blood in the water. Writer/s: DAVID JOHN MATTHEWS
  Publisher: Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 21

• Jon from New YorkThis song's meaning is largely determined by each listeners experiences and biases. The song's true meaning can only be found in the mind and heart of the song writer itself. Dave, being from South Africa and having lived in Virginia no doubt drew from a few different experiences of people's being displaced. A South American could draw comparisons to the Spanish conquest of their lands. A Native of North America could apply it to their experience. It is conceivable that a Brittan could say this song is about the Romans or a Puerto Rican about the Spanish and/or the US.
• Brandon Jeralds Iv from New York, Deciple Very interesting poetry if I say so myself, but Megalovania has way much more to offer.
• Chris Ehrbar from Staten Island N.y.indigenoupeoplesThis song is about Satan. Yes, on the surface it seems to be about our Native Americans or other indigenous peoples pushed off their land. But if if you've read the Bible than it all falls into place. Every lyric. "Your horse is leaving", lol. The natives didnt even have horses until we got here. "Your boat is leaving"? Anyone rember Noah and his ark? The ark is a type of Christ, saving man from judgement. "Hiding"and "seeing". Adam anyone? Man forfeited his domion over the earth and Satan became the god of this world, trying to make it his "home". His wings? The fire? Your Father's Spirit"? "Lay your arms down"? Raising one's arms in praise is a form of "spiritual" warfare. Notice how the narrator is being bossy but by the end of the song he begins to fess up, so to speak, of his crimes and of his character and begins to practically beg for us to listen to him. The "water" is the gospel message of Jesus Christ and without His shed blood atoning for our sins the gospel is without power and effect. Satan's plea: don't believe the gospel because it has the power to save men.
• Brandon from Warren, MiThe most important truth to take from this is that the water is like alcohol. In the society that we live there is a deeper issue and that is that too many people drink. I myself drink, I'm sure that you drink. I know DMB drinks. What of the Indians and what of the water they drank. It is that water that the white man brought over to America. For the record I'm a white republican. We must think outside of our self's and see that he is every were. The truth is right there.
• Mel from Riverbank, CaFor some reason this song reminds me of the HBO show Deadwood, when Hearst came to town and ran over anyone in his path. Much like the white man ran over the natives, be they in North America, Africa, Asia, South America...
• Mel from Riverbank, CaThe extermination of Native Americans continued long after the United States won the revolutionary war. Don't appreciate the 'just killing to clear the land' comment, it went way deeper than that. And of course Europeans were killing the natives after the revolutionary war as well, the spanish and missionaries were killing off natives until California joined the union in 1849/1850.
• Kate from Philadelphia, PaActually, this song (and video) fit better with the colonization of South Africa. The colonists were said the have killed so many natives that the river ran red with blood (a battle was called the "Battle of Blood River."). Considering Dave's heritage, it's appropriate to assume that the song was at least partially about that extermination of native peoples. There are Zulu warriors depicted in the video as well.
• Chris from Sturbridge, MaTo kyle from Atlanta, This song is about the Europeans slaughtering the Native Americans, The U.S. was not formed yet. They were just Europeans traveling to colonize the land, and they did so by killing off the Native Americans.
• Rob from Wilkes-barre, PaLike most other Dave songs this only gets better and better each time you hear it, especially live.
• Matthew from Milford, MaThis song, is one my favorites, along with "The Last Stop", "Too Much", "The Stone", "Halloween", and "The Dreaming Tree". This kind of song is why Dave Matthews Band is my favorite music artist!
• Kyle from Atlanta, GaI think this song was about the United States slaughter of the Native Amercans, not the europeans
• Joseph from Bronx New York, Nykinda like what we did to the mexicans during the alamo or was it the spanish anyway we lost but later we traded general santa anna for the whole state of texas! worst deal ever made for the spanish. what were they thinking?
• Samia from Geneva, SwitzerlandWhy is it that recent slaughters that have been "branded" patriotic war rarely get spoken about in the US? I see a lot of propaganda on these pages...
• Patrick from Tallapoosa, GaThe water in Mexico dies have bacteria in it that foreigners are not accustomed to. Those born in Mexico, who have consumed it for decades, will not get sick, but people born in other countries will. The condition is called "Montezuma's Revenge" named after an Aztec ruler who supposedly put a curse on the Spanish Conquistadors. Anyone who drinks the water in Mexico will get extremely sick. There are medications you can get through your doctor if you ever plan on going to Mexico.
• Gabe from New York, NyDDTW is about colinization and the abuse of Native Americans, as said. Around 98/99 Dave and Tim would often play Bartender (2000 Lillywhite Sessions, officially released on Busted Stuff in 2000). Both Bartender and DDTW are in Drop D tuning.
• Stephen from South Charleston, WvThis song is actually talking about how you shouldn't drink the water in Mexico because it will make you sick because you are not used to it.
• Kelly from Los Angeles, CaOne of my favorite songs EVER. I saw the "Storytellers" episode on VH-1 where he talked about this song being about the land the Native Americans had inhabited and then we come and take it away, and this song perfectly illustrates it and pays the tribute that he was talking about. It is a bloody but thought-provoking song. Dave rocks!
• Annabelle from Eugene, OrWhen I think of the lyrics, "Don't Drink The Water", I think of the time of the Great Stink Of London in 1858, when the bad stench of the polluted water in the Thames River caused many people to leave the city! It kind of makes me think of what the Londoners thought back then, "There may be fresh water in England, but Don't drink the water from the River Thames!"
• Kieran from Brewster, NyWatch the video, it's really self explanitory.
• Tommy from Southboro, MaOn VH1 he tells the story behind it...among other things he says he was in awe when he thought of what North America was like before "we" came. He says it's his way of paying a little tribute to the natives we slaughtered
• Adeeb from Dhaka, OtherAH HAH. I was right on the money with this one. It brings to my mind of the wide open spaces of the great american west. Of the eagles circling the desert. Looking with sharp eyes for prey. (When says; And here I will spread my wings"). Very bloody song...heh... Dave Mathews Band seems to be best at this dangerous edgey mood.

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