I Go Swimming – Wikipedia

1983 promotional single by Peter Gabriel

“I Go Swimming” is a track by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. He had initially recorded the track for his 1980 album, Peter Gabriel, but it surely was not included on the ultimate launch. That similar yr, Gabriel carried out the track on the album’s accompanying tour. A stay recording was then included on his 1983 stay album Plays Live. This recording was launched as a promotional single and reached No. 38 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.

“I Go Swimming” was among the many roughly 15 songs thought of for Gabriel’s third self-titled solo album, which was launched in 1980. Gabriel mentioned “I Go Swimming” in a 1980 interview with Melody Maker, the place he known as the track’s lyrics “superficial and somewhat lighthearted”. He talked about that “I Go Swimming” would have been included on his third solo album if he had completed the lyrics.^[1] He revisited the track in July 1981 at Crescent Studios, with David Lord serving because the co-producer and engineer for this combine.^[2]

Gabriel carried out the track stay on his 1980 tour, which was billed because the Tour of China Tour 1984.^[3] Reviewing Gabriel’s March 1980 efficiency in Edinburgh, Hugh Fielder of Sounds mentioned that Gabriel had “clearly yet to write the lyrics as he sang little more than the title as he swam around the stage.^[1] In an interview with Melody Maker published in July 1980, Gabriel said that he had still yet to finalise the lyrics.^[1] During some renditions of “I Go Swimming” from this tour, Gabriel would also fall face down into the audience. He explained that this technique, which he dubbed The Dive, was developed after he had read a literary resource on psychological group activities titled The New Games Book. He said that it was “one factor trusting folks alongside you to not allow you to fall on the ground and at worst bruise your self, and fairly one other to belief an viewers many toes beneath to cushion you from actual hurt.”^[4] Gabriel performed the song at the first WOMAD festival, which took place in July 1982 at the Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet.^[5] It later appeared on the Live at WOMAD 1982 album, which was released on digital platforms in 2025 and received a physical release the following year.^[6][7]

In 1983, “I Go Swimming” was the one beforehand unreleased track to be included on Gabriel’s Plays Live double album, which included materials taken from his 1982 performances in Illinois and Kansas. When introducing “I Go Swimming”, Gabriel mentioned that the track was for “those whose minds are as healthy as their bodies.”^[3] Later that yr, “I Go Swimming” debuted and peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks.^[8] “I Go Swimming” was additionally included on the 1984 soundtrack album Hard to Hold.^[9] A re-recorded instrumental rendition of “I Go Swimming”, titled “GA-GA”, was featured as a B-side to Gabriel’s 1987 “Red Rain” single. “GA-GA”, which was produced by Steve Lillywhite and engineered by Hugh Padgham, includes a saxophone because the track’s lead instrument. This recording was later included on the Flotsam and Jetsam digital-exclusive album.^[10]

Martin Scorsese, who commissioned Gabriel to develop the soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ commented that “I Go Swimming” was one of many tracks that attracted him to Gabriel’s work, saying that “the lyrics start quite ordinarily before taking off to reach a spiritual level.”^[11] The lyrics are centered round the advantages of swimming, with the instrumentation constructed round parts of funk and a bass groove performed by Tony Levin.^[3][9]