“Don’t Drink the Water” is a song by the Dave Matthews Band. It was written by Dave Matthews and released in 1998 on the band’s album titled “Before These Crowded Streets” (ASCAP, 2017). Noted performer Alanis Morrissette provided backing vocals for the song, and bluegrass performer Bela Fleck played banjo for the song, marking the band’s first collaboration with other performers. “Don’t Drink the Water” was the first single off the album and spent 13 weeks on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart reaching a peak position of 19th (Billboard, 2017). The album was nominated for a Grammy for best rock album. The music video for “Don’t Drink the Water” was nominated for MTV Music Video Awards for both Best Rock Video and Best Cinematography; however,
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“I have no time to justify to you, fool, you're blind, move aside for me.” The white settlers whites believed the Natives to be incapable of understanding the “hardships” they experienced in Europe and spare them no time to give them a reason for their crimes, only a violent order to stand down and leave their homes. “All I can say to you my new neighbor. is you must move on or I will bury you.” The settlers mock the fact that the Native Americans must leave, calling them neighbors as they will have to set up new residence elsewhere. It is hinted that the Natives are ordered to move out West, but the threat of war is obvious in this lyric. “Now as I rest my feet by this fire, those hands once warmed here I have retired them. I can breathe my own air, I can sleep more soundly.” With the white settlers adapting to their much sought-after homestead, resting by the fire, they selfishly reminisce that the Natives once did the same there before they forced them out. The settlers find time to rest after years of fighting off the Natives for land that is clearly their own. The settlers
“I have no time to justify to you, fool, you're blind, move aside for me.” The white settlers whites believed the Natives to be incapable of understanding the “hardships” they experienced in Europe and spare them no time to give them a reason for their crimes, only a violent order to stand down and leave their homes. “All I can say to you my new neighbor. is you must move on or I will bury you.” The settlers mock the fact that the Native Americans must leave, calling them neighbors as they will have to set up new residence elsewhere. It is hinted that the Natives are ordered to move out West, but the threat of war is obvious in this lyric. “Now as I rest my feet by this fire, those hands once warmed here I have retired them. I can breathe my own air, I can sleep more soundly.” With the white settlers adapting to their much sought-after homestead, resting by the fire, they selfishly reminisce that the Natives once did the same there before they forced them out. The settlers find time to rest after years of fighting off the Natives for land that is clearly their own. The settlers