h2o mp3: We Still Drink the Same Water – Teitur

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Teitur is 34-year-old singer-songwriter Teitur Lassen, who the NY Daily News described as “The Norse Whisperer.” He was born in the Faroe Islands, a lightly populated groups of islands between Iceland, Scotland and Norway. It is a place, he says, that is “an idyllic place for kids to grow up, because people can always see the water from wherever they are.”

We Still Drink the Same Water is from the 2008 release The Singer. The album has been called quiet, beautiful, harsh and contemplative, very natural and somehow Nordic sounding. It’s also been called melancholy, self-indulgent and unstructured, so you decide! This is a painful track about coping with the loss of a relationship.

Lyrics
I might take a holiday,
I need to get out of my own way and put an end to all of this running away.
I’m thinking that we might as well quench our thirst and get up where we fell.
Since we float in the same well we still drink the same water

It’s still the same, nothing has changed.
We still drink the same water.

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/teitur-westilldrinkhesamewater.mp3]

Download We Still Drink the Same Water – Teitur
Low-fi 64kbps file for sampling.
Like it? Support the people who make music. Buy this track at iTunes or Amazon.com.


h2o mp3: Pouring Water On A Drowning Man – Otis Clay

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Otis Clay is 67 years old and still serving up the soul, performing his brand of R&B and gospel all over the world. Mississippi-born but now a long-time Chicago resident, Clay is a well-known community leader on the city’s West Side, giving tons of time and talent to efforts that help create economic opportunity with initatives that help people give back to the community where they live and work.

This track is from 1970 from the album Atlantic Unearthed: Soul Brothers.

Lyrics:
You push me when I’m falling
And you kick me when I’m down
I guess I missed my calling
Cause I sit up in a cloud

How much more
How much more could I stand
When you’re pouring water
On a drowning man

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/10-pouring-water-on-a-drowning-man.mp3]

Download Pouring Water on a Drowning Man – Otis Clay (3.1 MB)
Like it? Support the people who make music! Visit www.otisclay.net or buy this track at iTunes or Amazon.

h2o mp3: I Love the Rain the Most (When it Stops) – Joe Purdy

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We’ve had a wet few days here in my ‘burb, but now it’s clear…an ideal time to share American folk artist Joe Purdy’s song I Love the Rain Most (When it Stops). If the 2004 song sounds vaguely familiar, maybe you’re a Grey’s Anatomy fan; the song was featured on an episode of that ABC series.

Lyrics

Well, I love the rain the most when it stops
We can see the big white houses, yeah, and the docks
And we can jump in the river, don’t know if the water or sky is clearer
But I know that I love the rain the most when it stops
Yeah, when it stops

No more grey today, we gonna celebrate
You know Miss Sunshine, she starts to paint a perfect picture of this river parade
And I know that I love the rain the most when it stops
Yeah, when it stops

Well, the dark waves, they start singing together
I can’t believe this change in the weather
I start to hum a child’s rhyme
And all these boats, they start rocking in time
And I love the rain the most when it stops
Yes, we love the rain the most when it stops
Yeah when it stops

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/16-i-love-the-rain-the-most.mp3]

Download I Love the Rain Most (When it Stops) – Joe Purdy
Low-fi 64 kbps mp3 file for sampling
Like it? Support the people who make music. Buy this track at iTunes or Amazon.com.

h2o mp3: Rain Dance – The Very Best (with M.I.A.)

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Some great drought-busting tribal-pop!

“The Very Best” is East African (Malawi) singer Esau Mwamwaya and producer duo Radioclit (Johan Hugo and DJ Tron/DJ Shark Attack). The track Rain Dance, featuring hit-making heavyweight M.I.A., is from their brand-new album The Heart of Africa.

A great collaboration, too, since M.I.A. (from Sri Lanka) is noted for tribal-ethnic beats and dance-driving repetition.

Much of Mwamwaya’s vocals in Rain Dance are in Chichewa, the language of Malawi. Love that rain-stick intro!

From The Very Best’s MySpace page,

Esau Mwamwaya was born in Mzuzu in Malawi, East Africa. He grew up in the capital, Lilongwe, where he played drums in various bands such as Masaka Band. He was a good friend of the legendary Evison Matafale and they played together for several years before he was killed in Malawi police custody in 2003.

In 1999 Esau Mwamwaya moved to London, England ran a second-hand furniture shop in Clapton, East London until setpember 2008 when he returned to Malawi.

Esau’s shop was on the same street as Radioclit’s old studio, and after the Radioclit boy’s bought a bike from Esau they invited him to one of their house warming parties They made friends and started working on music together. Three years later and the project has gotten it’s name The Very Best.

Play the track
[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/very-best-rain-dance-w_-mia.mp3]

Download Rain Dance – The Very Best feat. M.I.A. (6MB)
Like it? Support the people who make music! Buy the album Warm Heart of Africa at iTunes or Amazon.com.

h2o mp3: How Can I Be So Thirsty – John Anderson

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Drinkin’ too much and a-payin’ the price are essential elements in old-school classic country music. This track, and John Anderson, are as classic as it gets. (We love the not-original-but-awesome lyric technique “Jose, Jack and Jim my best drinkin’ friends” (who are, of course, Cuervo, Daniels and Beam, respectively).

Anderson’s long music career spans more than 30 years with 40+ singles and 5 number-one songs on the Billboard country music charts. How Can I Be So Thirsty is from his latest, the June 2009 album Bigger Hands.

Lyrics:

Last night I went to town, hit every bar around
A hundred bottles of beer on the wall
Lord I thought that I could drink ’em all
Jose, Jack and Jim my best drinkin’ friends
They poured ’em up and I shot ’em down
Lord I thought I was goin’ to drown

How can I be so thirsty this mornin’ after all I drank last night?
I was a-sippin’ and a-tippin’, a-chuggin’ and a-luggin’
Huggin’ every pretty girl in sight
I woke up with the cotton mouth wrapped around my throat so tight
How can I be this thirsty this mornin’ after all I drank last night?

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/01_-_how_can_i_be_so_thirsty.mp3]

Download How Can I Be So Thirsty – John Anderson
64 kbps low-fi mp3 for sampling.
Like it? Support the people who make music. Buy this track at iTunes or Amazon.com.

h2o mp3: Something in the Water – The Jealous Girlfriends

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Isn’t it easy to blame everything from bad behavior to multiple pregnancies on the water? “Something in the water” is a phrase that tracks way back to the days when frequent epidemics were, in fact, usually caused by “something” in the water.

This 2007 new wave-ish track by the Brooklyn, New York band The Jealous Girlfriends is from their self-titled second album.

Lyrics:
I think there’s something in the water
Or then again
It could be something in the air
But there’s none to be found
In the dirt on the ground
And the choices I’ve made
are ad hoc anyway

Hey, I think it must be the water

Noises through the wall of TV and sex
Repeat your opinion
until it all makes sense
And it’s all you can do
to keep your head above it
It’s the only truth
there’s no way around it

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/08-something-in-the-water.mp3]

Download Something in the Water – The Jealous Girlfriends
1.3 MB 64 kbps low-fi mp3 for sampling.
Like it? Support the people who make music. Buy this track at iTunes or amazon.com

h2o mp3: I Want the Waiter (With the Water) – Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra

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When this playful swing number was recorded in 1939, war was raging in Europe, the United States officially declared its neutrality and the U.S. non-intervention movement was strong. We all know how that eventually played out. (I’ll ignore the fact that today is September 11th, another historic date in the history of American denial.)

Americans had the Great Depression behind them and the misery of war yet to come. They were swinging and cutting the rug, and consummate entertainer and bandleader Ozzie Nelson was packing the dance floor.

This is a faster, funnier version of I Want the Waiter (With the Water) than the better-known recording by Ella Fitzgerald.

Lyrics (which begin at 0:45)

I want the waiter, with the water
I want the waiter with the water for my daughter
I want the waiter with the water for my daughter
cause my daughter has an order for some water on the tray

He’s got a menu, that’ll send you
He’s got a menu that’ll send you and befriend you
He’s got a menu that’ll send you and befriend you
maybe lend you if you help me find the waiter with the tray

While my daughter was having lunch one day
She caught the waiter’s eye
He took one look at her, and ran away
Now she’s gonna die of thirst unless I find that guy

Play and download the track

I Want the Waiter (With the Water) – Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra

(I usually urge you to support musicians via a purchase link, but I can’t find anywhere for you to buy this rare track!)

h2o mp3: Its All About the Water – Jimmy Buffett

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Did you know that Jimmy Buffett tried his hand at musical theater? No? That’s because the effort made little more than a ripple! The 1998 stage play Don’t Stop the Carnival, based on Herman Wouk’s 1965 novel of the same name, played only briefly in Miami but hooray! The studio album of 20 original compositions by Buffett lives on.

It’s All About the Water and Champagne Si, Agua No are both from this album. The play’s plot involves a New Yorker with dreams of escaping his high-pressure life; he abandons everything to buy an old hotel on a tiny, primitive, lush Caribbean island.

I can’t find many details past that, but judging by the songs, water is a scarce and revered resource on the island and a broken water pump plays a role in the plot line. Both tracks are classic Buffett tropical goodness.

Lyrics – It’s All About the Water

It’s all about da water, don’t you know
Kinja needs da water, da h2o
It’s all about da water, it ain’t no lie
Widout de water we shrivel up and die

De main cistern go down to zero
De new bossman, he be a hero
Solve de problem, so give a cheer-o
He turn on de water!

H2 h2 0 h2 h2 0

Play the track – It’s All About the Water

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/10-its-all-about-the-water.mp3]

Lyrics – Champagne Si, Agua No

Folks, Gull Reef regrets the water shortage.
Wild night out there!
Water in the sea, water from the sky, no water in the Club,
but while the pump gets repaired, let’s live!
If the water can’t flow, the wine can!
Champagne party in the lobby!

Champagne si, agua no
Let it rain, let it blow
To hell with the H2O
Champagne si, agua no

The Gull Reef Club’s not too ship shape
Time for a party time for a break
Tonight all our troubles will soon disappear
Cause champagne is cheaper than water down here

Play the track – Champagne Si, Agua No

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/11-champagne-si-agua-no.mp3]

Download It’s All About the Water
Download Champagne Si, Agua No
Low-fi 64 kbps mp3 files for sampling.

Like it? Support the people who make music. Buy these tracks at iTunes or Amazon.com.

h2o mp3: Clear as Water – Una Mas Trio

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If you are hosting any sort of gathering this weekend, Clear as Water is guaranteed to help you get the party started. The German group Una Mas Trio describes their music as “latin-boogaloo-driven”  both for listening and for the dance floor and is an intoxicating fusion of latin-world beats, jazz and soul.

The Mo’Horizons Restyle version of Clear as Water is from the March 2009 12″ single.

Lyrics:
Free as a bird
Free as the wind
Clear like water
that flows from the mountain

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/una-mas-trio-clear-as-water-mohorizons-restyle.mp3]

Download Clear as Water (Mo’Horizons Restyle)
Low-fi 64 kbps for sampling

Like it? Support the people who make music. Buy this track at iTunes or Amazon.com.
Una Mas Trio on MySpace

h2o mp3: Water – Rose Royce

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This vintage funk track is over 30 years old and still awesome. (Check out that spectacular funk guitar around 1:50!) The soundtrack from the movie Car Wash, released in 1976, transformed the young Los Angeles band Rose Royce from unknown to overnight success with four top-10 singles.

This track is not one of the hits, but a lesser known, mostly-instrumental B-side from the 7″ Car Wash single.

Lyrics:
Water soothing to your soul in the midst of a hot summer day,
Yea, Water soothing to your soul in the midst of a hot summer day

Play the track

[audio:http://thirstyinsuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/roseroyce-water.mp3]

Download the mp3 Water -Rose Royce

Like it? Support the people who make music. This track available only with the full album, available at iTunes or Amazon.com.