In “Muddy Water,” Stu sings about his distaste for beaches and all of the inconveniences of them. He notes the burning sun, the scorching sand and freezing water and the sharks looking for food as reasons he avoids the ocean. Instead, he opts for the river as his place to relax. Here, he’s allowed to connect with nature in the muddy water. The song also comments on a difference in attitudes. While the beach attracts the vain models and muscle men of the world, the river is messy and unsophisticated. The song, of course, brings to mind “The River” from 2015’s Quarters! but also references one of the band’s earliest tracks “Summer!” The start of each verse is a direct quote of the track’s lyrics. Behind Stu’s interest in rivers is a rocking syncopated instrumental accented by bagpipe-like saxophone played by Stu, which gives the song a Scottish jig-like rhythm.
A demo for “Muddy Water” was released on Demos Vol. 1: Music To Kill Bad People. The track is in a different key and is a jam on the main concept of the song. The structure of the demo doesn’t resemble the final version much and it's shorter than the final version. “Muddy Water” was performed by Ambrose (vocals), Cavs (drums), Joey (guitar), Lucas (bass) and Stu (vocals/guitar/saxophone/flute/percussion/keyboards) and was recorded at Flightless HQ with a mix done by Stu. Additional parts were also recorded at Whammy Bar in Auckland, which the band played at from 2017-12-06 to 2017-12-11. It was released on Gumboot Soup on December 31st, 2017.
The earliest known performance was on 2018-05-24 at the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine. Here the song was played as a standalone track. For the rest of the year, however, “Muddy Water” was included in a medley of “Crumbling Castle” > “The Fourth Colour” > “Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet” > “The Castle In The Air” > “Muddy Water.” This continued into 2019 though it sometimes appeared on its own (2019-07-06). After a couple of electric performances in 2020 and 2021, it reappeared as an acoustic track starting on 2021-12-13. In 2022 the standalone electric version returned as the primary version.
During their show on 2024-05-23, the band debuted a new version of the Paper Mâché Dream Balloon song “The Bitter Boogie.” Unlike previous performances, this featured the rhythm of “Muddy Water” under its usual groove. The band played this version throughout their European tour before introducing the inverse in America. During the band’s Cleveland show on 2024-08-24, Gizzard played “Muddy Water” with the rhythm of “The Bitter Boogie.” Four days later on 2024-08-28 the band combined both new renditions into one long suite, which would become the new primary version of the song (though a standard performance did occur on 2024-11-02).
Outside of the band’s live shows, Cavs played “Muddy Water” at his first drum seminar at Drumtek in Northcote in 2022.