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| Song History for Before These Crowded Streets | |||||||||||||
| 01.) Pantala Naga Pampa: Gambian for "Welcome to our home," "Pantala Naga Pampa" serves as a welcoming into to the Before These Crowded Streets album. The song grew out of an acoustic outro to "Jimi Thing," commonly called "What Will Become of Me," which was first played on May 10, 1995. Current version first performed: April 18, 1998 |
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| 02.) Rapunzel: This is one of the band's most straightforward love songs; it deals with several styles of sex. The person's fondness for the woman extends beyond lust, however, as the lyrics in the section of "Rapunzel" where the time signature changes indicate. The song debuted as an apparently improvised jam on November 29, 1994. In an interview prior to the release of the album Matthews said that the band's soundmen had gone through DMB's collection of soundboard recordings and picked out a few songs, jams, and riffs for use on the new album. "Rapunzel" was one of the songs no doubt drafted as such. Although shelved since 1994, the song is rumored to have been played as an instrumental during soundchecks of the 1997 summer tour, possible under the title "Round and Round." It was also tentatively called "Funkin' Five" during the album sessions. Current version first performed: April 17, 1998 (Public Soundcheck) |
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| 03.) The Last Stop: The three major Monotheistis religions are lambasted for their graniloquence in dogma. Everything is justified, the song explains, if you believe that your religion so dictates from the mouth of God. The song was tentatively named "Egyptian" and "Black and White" before being finalized as "The Last Stop" during production of Before These Crowded Streets. First performed: April 18, 1998 |
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| 04.) Don't Drink The Water: The song is sung from the perspective of a spiteful settler coming to the New World in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The song was influenced when Matthews looked out of a New York City hotel window and pondered Manhattan prior to the advent of the modern world. The song uses the plight of the American Indians as its basis. "Don't Drink The Water" debuted as "Weight of the World" on February 18, 1996, at a Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds concert in New Hampshire. The song was titled as it was because one of its key lines had the words "Weight of the World," although these words would never be repeated in the song again. The original version also dealt with founding a new nation, but revolved more around the modern United States, including the Constitution, and was overall a more "politically" oriented song. "Weight of the World" would return during the 1997 Dave & Tim tour, under the new title "Leave Me Praying." The updated version of the tune was aimed more towards its current meaning and took its name from the words used in one of the versions. The biggest evolution of the song came on June 8, 1997, when the full band first performed "Leave Me Praying" at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, NY. The song would then become a regular, kicking off most encores for the rest of the summer tour. The band would bring "Leave Me Praying" into the studio with them that fall. The tune would become known as Drop-D (its guitar tuning). When the lyric-writing phase of Before These Crowded Streets came about in January 1998 the song finally became known as "Don't Drink The Water." The whole album was also called "Don't Drink The Water" until it received its current title near the end of February 1998. Current version first performed: April 18, 1998 |
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| 05.) Stay: A run-of-the-mill upbeat love song written entirely in the studio during the Before These Crowded Streets sessions. First performed: April 17, 1998 (Public Soundcheck) |
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| 06.) Halloween: The song was written after Matthews' former girlfriend, Julia Grey (the song "I'll Back You Up" was also written for her), rejected his marriage proposal for the third time. It is basically a big fuck you to the woman. After being originally titled "The Halloween Song" the title was shortened to its current moniker. The title was chosen simply because the song debuted on Halloween. First performed: October 31, 1992 |
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| 07.) The Stone: This song represents death; literally, the stone is a gravestone. Matthews' uses the common theme of blue during the song to express guilt over a death, a death which he may have caused. The song was written entirely in the studio and was first named "Chim Chimney." First performed: April 17, 1998 (Public Soundcheck) |
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| 08.) Crush: "Crush" is a basic love/lust song. The narrator is describing his love for a woman, and how he would like to tell her the feelings he has kept inside, paying her for what she has done for him (emotionally). Matthews has indicated that his wife Ashley was the inspiration for this song. The song was soundchecked on July 19, 1998, as an instrumental. It was once thought that the song evolved from the Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds tune "Crazy." However, soundchecks during the 1999 Dave & Tim tour revealed that "Crazy" had kept its original form. Current version first performed: April 17, 1998 (Public Soundcheck) |
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| 09.) The Dreaming Tree: Questioning faith in the eyes of death is the message of this complex song. The Dreaming Tree is that happy place, figuratively or literally, where everything is all right in the world. Speculation over the identity of the deceased person is rampant due to the masking ambiguity of the song. Written entirely in the studio, the tune was first called "Stefan's 7," followed by "Groove in 7," and then finally its current title. First performed: May 25, 1998 |
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| 10.) Pig: "Pig," along the lines of such songs as "Lie In Our Graves," is a basic, run-of-the-mill carpe diem tune. "They're a dime a dozen, aren't they?" says Matthews. The song confronts the tired notion that all human beings are living towards a brighter day and not enjoying the surrent moment. The song originated from the quiet, acoustic jam "Don't Burn The Pig." Only the chorus of "Pig," with the line "Don't burn the day away," resembles the original, which debuted on May 10, 1995. "Don't Burn The Pig" was written in response to a televsion documentary Matthews once viewed. In the documentary an expirement took place in which several men held down a baby pig and another burned it with various hot objects. Matthews was disgusted with this atrocity and write the song in response to it. "Don't Burn The Pig" disappeared after the 1996 Crash tour, but was revived when the band hit the studio in late 1998. Current version first performed: April 18, 1998 |
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