Artist: The Beach Boys
Album: Pet Sounds
Song: "Sloop John B"
March 21, 1966 Capitol Records







"Sloop John B" (originally published as "The John B. Sails") is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription by Richard Le Gallienne was published in 1916, and a version was included in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927. Since the early 1950s there have been many recordings of the song with variant titles including "I Want to Go Home" and "Wreck of the John B".

In 1966, The Beach Boys recorded a folk rock adaptation that was produced and arranged by their de facto leader, Brian Wilson. Released as the second single from their album Pet Sounds, the record peaked at number three in the U.S., number two in the UK, and topped the charts in several other countries. It was innovative for containing an elaborate a cappella vocal section not found in other pop music of the era, and it remains one of the group's biggest hits.

In 2011, The Beach Boys' version of "Sloop John B" was ranked No. 276 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

"The John B. Sails" was transcribed by Richard Le Gallienne, with five verses and the chorus published in his article “Coral Islands and Mangrove-Trees” in the December 1916 issue of Harper’s Monthly Magazine (pp. 81–90). The first two verses and chorus were also published in Chapter IV of Gallienne's 1917 novel Pieces of Eight. The lyrics describe a disastrous voyage on a sloop, with the vessel plagued by drunkenness, arrests and a pig eating the narrator's food. In the chorus, the narrator repeatedly expresses a desire to return home.

Bonus: from June 20, 2022: Brian Wilson's 80th Happy Birthday Video...don't know what to say, but it's something...