In a 2012 interview with Paste Magazine Rowan said:
"it's a little picture of him in my mind's eye. .... I was thinking about him and I had a guitar in an opening tuning. And I entered that space we always shared and those were the words that were there. I didn't try and write it. It just seemed to me the way Jerry probably felt deep down in his soul."The song was performed in 2017 by Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band with Peter Rowan sitting in. On Phil Lesh setlists the song is usually listed as Swimming In The Deep Blue Sea. At that show Peter Rowan introduced the song by saying:
This is a song for 'Big Gar', as Vassar used to call him. Jerry Garcia. This is to commemorate Jerry's work in the southern oceans, raising money to bring the reefs back. He loved to skin-dive.The song includes the lyrics:
I'm going swimming in the deep blue sea
Just these lonely whales and me
Deep down in the blue Pacific glow
Everybody's got a song to sing
Everybody's got a bell to ring
Ring it, sing it, all night long
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Peter Rowan
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