"Don't Drink the Water" was Dave Matthews Band's first single off their album Before These Crowded Streets. The song was also the first of three music videos made for this album. The song was based on a simpler tune played by Dave Matthews, first dubbed "Weight of the World" when played on his acoustic tour with Tim Reynolds in 1996, and later "Leave Me Praying", as the song became more structured during tours in 1997. The subject of the song is the apartheid in South Africa and the persecution of the Native Americans.

The song features Alanis Morissette on background vocals and Béla Fleck on the banjo. A 24-second studio jam is heard at the end of the track. As a single, it reached #4 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. Like all of the singles from the album, it had to be edited for radio airplay, due to its length.