The Waw has a "w" sound (called the vav in modern Hebrew with a "v" sound) and is a picture of a peg or nail which is used to secure or add things together. This letter is used to mean "and" in the sense of adding. When this letter is prefixed to the word erets the word we'erets is formed meaning "and a land."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=selfqEH-JnY
Pretty cool (and eerie) song from the Aphrodite’s Child 666 album from a long time ago....