Song · Peter Gabriel
“I Go Swimming” by Peter Gabriel
Released 1983
“I Go Swimming” by Peter Gabriel appears on 8 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1999 and 2012. It was first released in 1983. Its best result is #26 on the WMMR Top 50 Songs of Summer (2012). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,226 alternative song of all time.
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"I Go Swimming" spent years as the one that got away. Peter Gabriel worked on it for his third self-titled album in 1980, one of about 15 songs in the running, but it missed the final record; talking to Melody Maker that year, he called the lyrics lightweight and admitted he simply hadn't finished them. He took another run at it at Crescent Studios in July 1981 with David Lord, and still no studio version saw daylight.
On stage it had been in the set since the 1980 tour, and that's where it finally got its release: a live take on Plays Live in 1983, recorded by Neil Kernon and produced and mixed by Gabriel with Peter Walsh. Sent out to radio as a promotional single, it climbed to 38 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 855 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 906 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 885 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 885 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 881 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 881 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 881 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2012 | 26 | 93.3 WMMR | WMMR Top 50 Songs of Summer (2012) | 49 |
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