"Bathwater" Is A Pop Song Written By Tom Dumont Tony Kanal And Gwen Stefani For No Doubt's Fourth Studio Album Return Of Saturn. It Was Released As The Album's Fourth And Final Single On November 14 2000. The Song Was Written In Only Ten Minutes Opening With Slow New Orleans Funeral Brass And Adrian Young As A Human Beat-Box. The Lyrics Discuss Overcoming Insecurities About A Relationship With Adoration. The Lyric "to Wash In Your Old Bathwater" Means Accepting A Lover's Faults.