Jack Johnson meets Paul Simon love-child tells a cautionary tale of rushing into relationships in the most laid-back beachy way ever.
“Swim Slow" is a comparison of how the world does relationships and how God says to do relationships. Watch a couple fall in love and post it all over social media. They have a whirlwind romance and want everyone to know how much they love each other and how their relationship is better than yours. Hollywood tells us "follow your heart" and glamorizes what feels good, regardless of the red flags along the way. When a relationship is just based on feeling and nothing objective or transcendent from God, when the initial romance fades, they will say “they just don’t fulfill my needs” and end it. They break up and then move on to other people and do it all over again, thinking that it will miraculously be different this time. But it never is. I know because I’ve done it too. This is how most people live their entire lives only slowing the process down just a little as they get older.
The lyric: “Now they’re down with a case of romantic psychosis, from Romeo and Juliet to War of the Roses” nods to the two classic Hollywood movies, both arguably about serious relational dysfunction and how Hollywood (the place where so many ideas about relationships come from) is notorious for the relationship failures of its messengers. The relationship in the song starts off like Romeo and Juliet with a hot and heavy start and seeming once in a lifetime love but ends up fizzling out because everything they loved about each other was only the idea of what they were. Superficial attraction is powerful at first, but never endures long.
Now compare this “I loved you when you fit the criteria of the person-of-my-dreams but now I can’t stand you since things got real” tabloid style “love” to 1 Cor 13:4-7 - Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
If you’re thinking about getting into a relationship, swim slow. There’s no need to rush love. If love is an ocean and there are plenty of fish swimming around, just remember you're only one fish and you only need one other fish. You don’t need the whole ocean. So take your time to find your person and when you meet them, don’t rush.
Dylan has worked in songwriting sessions with Paul Simon and recently helped score the documentary “The Essential Church”, which peaked at #1 in the Apple TV Documentary charts. The song was produced by Dylan Galvin and Austin Moorehead and mixed by Harper James.
Almost everyone alive has been in a relationship and has made at least a few bad choices. Dylan invites the listener to “Swim Slow” this time.
Set to be available for streaming everywhere, including Spotify and Apple Music, on July 26, 2024, Galvin's “Swim Slow” will be accompanied by a social media content series featuring behind-the-scenes insights into the song's creation, creative alternative renditions, and a music video set for release on Aug 9.
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Swim Slow Music Video (Premiering on Aug 9 at 2:00PM PST)