"Sloop John B" ( Roud 15634, originally published as "The John B. Sails") is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription was published in 1916 by Richard Le Gallienne, and Carl Sandburg included a version in his '' The American Songbag'' in 1927. There have been many recordings of the song since the early 1950s, with variant titles including "I Want to Go Home" and "Wreck of the John B". In 1966, American rock band

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

recorded a folk rock adaptation that was produced and arranged by

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

and released as the second single from their album ''

Pet Sounds ''Pet Sounds'' is the eleventh studio album by the American Rock music, rock band the Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966, by Capitol Records. It was produced, arranged, and primarily composed by Brian Wilson with guest lyricist Tony Asher. R ...

''. 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 number 276 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s list of "

The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

Earliest publications

"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''. Gallienne published the first two verses and chorus in his 1917 novel ''Pieces of Eight''. The lyrics describe a disastrous voyage on a sloop, with the vessel plagued by drunkenness and arrests and a pig eating the narrator's food. Carl Sandburg included the first three verses and chorus of "The John B. Sails" in his 1927 collection '' The American Songbag''. He states that he collected it from John T. McCutcheon, a political cartoonist from Chicago. McCutcheon told him:

The Beach Boys version

Arrangement

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

's 1958 recording of "The John B. Sails" was recorded under the title "The Wreck of the John B." It was the direct influence on the Beach Boys' version. The Beach Boys'

Al Jardine Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3, 1942) is an American musician who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist, background vocalist, and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as number-one hit ...

was a keen

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

fan, and he suggested to

that the Beach Boys should record the song. As Jardine explains: Jardine updated the

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

by having the

subdominant In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...

(D♭ major) move to its relative minor (B♭ minor) before returning to the tonic (A♭ major), thus altering a portion of the song's progression from IV — I to IV — ii — I. This device is heard immediately after the lyric "into a fight" and "leave me alone". Wilson elected to change some lyrics: "this is the worst trip since I've been born" to "this is the worst trip I've ever been on", "I feel so break up" to "I feel so broke up", and "broke up the people's trunk" to "broke in the captain's trunk". The first lyric change has been suggested by some to be a subtle nod to the 1960s

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

subculture.

Recording

The instrumental section of the song was recorded on July 12, 1965, at

United Western Recorders United Western Recorders was a two-building recording studio complex in Hollywood that was one of the most successful independent recording studios of the 1960s. The complex merged neighboring studios United Recording Corp. on 6050 Sunset Boule ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the session being engineered by Chuck Britz and produced by Brian Wilson. The master take of the instrumental backing took fourteen takes to achieve. Wilson's arrangement blended rock and marching band instrumentation with the use of flutes,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

, bass saxophone, bass, guitar, and drums. The vocal tracks were recorded over two sessions. The first was recorded on December 22, 1965, at Western Recorders, produced by Wilson. The second, on December 29, added a new lead vocal and Billy Strange's 12-string electric guitar part. Jardine explained that Wilson "lined us up one at a time to try out for the lead vocal. I had naturally assumed I would sing the lead, since I had brought in the arrangement. It was like interviewing for a job. Pretty funny. He didn't like any of us. My vocal had a much more mellow approach because I was bringing it from the folk idiom. For the radio, we needed a more rock approach. Wilson and Mike oveended up singing it." On the final recording, Brian Wilson sang the first and third verses and

Mike Love Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who is one of the vocalists of the Beach Boys, of which he was an original member alongside his cousins Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson and their frien ...

sang the second. Kent Hartman, in his book '' The Wrecking Crew'', described Billy Strange's contribution to the song. Brian Wilson called Strange into the studio one Sunday, played him the rough recording, and told him he needed an electric twelve-string guitar solo in the middle of the track. When Strange replied that he did not own a twelve string, Wilson responded by calling Glenn Wallichs, the head of

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

and owner of Wallichs Music City. A Fender Electric XII and

Twin Reverb The Fender Twin and Twin Reverb are guitar amplifiers made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The Twin was introduced in 1952, two years before Fender began selling Fender Stratocaster, Stratocaster electric guitars. The amps are known f ...

amplifier were quickly delivered (despite the shop they were ordered from being closed on Sundays), and Strange recorded the guitar part in one take. Wilson then gave Strange $2,000 to cover the cost of the equipment.

Single release

A music video set to "Sloop John B" was filmed for the UK's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', directed by newly employed band publicist

Derek Taylor Derek Wyn Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was a British journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was ...

. It was filmed at Brian's Laurel Way home with

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their drummer and the middle brother of bandmates Brian Wilson, Brian and Carl Wilson as well as ...

acting as cameraman. The single, backed with the song " You're So Good to Me", was released on March 21, 1966 in the US and on April 15, 1966 in the UK. It entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on April 2, and peaked at on May 7, remaining on the chart, in total, for 11 weeks. It charted highly throughout the world, remaining as one of the Beach Boys' most popular and memorable hits. It was in Germany, Austria, and Norway—all for five weeks each—as well as Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Africa, and New Zealand. It placed in the UK, Ireland (where it was the group's highest charting single at the time), Canada, and in ''Record World''. It was the fastest Beach Boys seller to date, moving more than half a million copies in less than two weeks after release. It had a three-week stay at number 1 in the Netherlands, making it the "Hit of the Year". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described the single as a "topflight adaptation" that treats "the folk oldie in a rhythmic, effectively-building warm-hearted rousing style." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "The Beach Boys have taken a tune from the folk books and given it an intriguing rock backing."

Other releases

In 1968, the recording's instrumental was released on ''

Stack-O-Tracks ''Stack-o-Tracks'' is an instrumental album release by the Beach Boys containing backing tracks to fifteen of their songs spanning their career to that point. As it was issued during one of their lowest commercial ebbs in the U.S., ''Stack-o-Tra ...

''. Along with sessions highlights, the box set '' The Pet Sounds Sessions'' includes two alternate takes, one with Carl Wilson singing lead on the first verse, and one with Brian singing all parts. In 2012,

released his own version as a bonus track on the reissue of his solo album '' A Postcard from California. In 2011, the song was sung by Fisherman's Friends at Cambridge Folk Festival. and released on ''Suck'em and Sea''. It was featured in the compilation album ''Cambridge Folk Festival 2011'' In 2016, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of ''Pet Sounds'', Brian Wilson and his touring band (including Al Jardine) performed ''Sloop John B'' live at Capitol Studios. In 2021, another UK based group, Isle 'Ave A Shanty sang the song at the 2021

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

Sea Shanty Festival and included the song on their 2022 debut album ''Swinging the Lamp''.

Personnel

Per band archivist Craig Slowinski. The Beach Boys *

Bruce Johnston Bruce Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin; June 27, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who is a member of the Beach Boys. He also collaborated on many records with Terry Melcher (his bandmate in Bruce & Terry, the Rip Chords, and ...

— backing vocals *

– lead (2nd verse) and backing vocals *

– backing vocals *

– lead (1st and 3rd verses) and backing vocals *

Carl Wilson Carl Dean Wilson (December 21, 1946 – February 6, 1998) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian Wilson, Brian and Dennis Wilson, ...

– backing vocals *

– backing vocals Additional musicians and production staff *

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Chuck Britz – engineer * Frank Capp –

* Al Casey – acoustic rhythm guitar * Jerry Cole – 12-string lead guitar * Steve Douglas – temple blocks * Carol Kaye –

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

Al De Lory Alfred V. De Lory (January 31, 1930 – February 5, 2012) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor and session musician. He was the producer and arranger of a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell in the 1960s, including John Har ...

– tack piano * Jay Migliori – flute * Jim Horn – flute * Jack Nimitz – bass saxophone * Lyle Ritz –

string bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

* Billy Strange – 12-string lead guitar, overdubbed 12-string lead guitars * Tony (surname unknown) – tambourine

Certifications

Sylvie Vartan version (in French)

In 1966, the song was adapted into French by Giles Thibaut, Georges Aber, and Eddie Vartan as "''Mister John B''" and performed by Vartan's sister Sylvie and released as a single in July 1966 as a non-album single, based on the Beach Boys version from earlier that year. The song had on-and-off chart success from mid-to-late 1966 on the French Belgian charts, peaking at Number 35 on the French Belgian charts on November 19, 1966. Vartan would go on to re-record the song for her 2013 album "''Sylvie In Nashville''" but failed to chart unlike the former version.

Charts

In popular culture

English football

It has been popular amongst English football fans since the mid-2000s when Liverpool adapted the song to sing about their 2005 Champions League final triumph in Istanbul. It was subsequently adopted by the supporters of English non-league team

F.C. United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional association football, football club based in Moston, Manchester, Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English ...

as a club anthem in 2007. Since then more high-profile teams have followed suit, usually with different lyrics for their own teams, including Watford, with Newcastle, Blackpool, Middlesbrough and Hull also adopting the song as their own. It was sung by Phil Brown, the manager of Hull City FC, shortly after Hull had avoided

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

in 2009.

Scottish football

The melody of "Sloop John B" has been used as the basis for the " Famine Song", a

sectarian Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or religious conflicts between groups. Others conceive of sectarianism a ...

anti-Irish Catholic song which refers to Irish migration to Great Britain in the context of the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

and contains the line "the famine's over, why don't you go home?". The song has been sung by fans of Rangers F.C. in reference to rival club

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

, which was established by Irish Catholic migrants in Glasgow and retains a large Irish supporter base. The song was first sung publicly by Rangers fans at a match at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

in April 2008. Rangers have repeatedly asked their fans not to sing the song. In 2009 Scotland's Justiciary Appeal Court ruled that the song was racist, with judge Lord Carloway stating that its lyrics "are racist in calling upon people native to Scotland to leave the country because of their racial origins".

List of recordings

All versions titled "Sloop John B", except where noted.

Chart history

Weekly singles charts Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1966 singles 1966 songs Folk rock songs The Beach Boys songs Song recordings produced by Brian Wilson Capitol Records singles Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Number-one singles in South Africa Chamber pop songs Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements Tom Fogerty songs Roger Whittaker songs Jerry Jeff Walker songs Dick Dale songs The Ventures songs Relient K songs Barry McGuire songs Gary Lewis & the Playboys songs Jerry Butler songs Simple Minds songs Association football songs and chants The Kingston Trio songs The Brothers Four songs Me First and the Gimme Gimmes songs Songs about boats Sea shanties Year of song unknown Songs with unknown songwriters RPM Top Singles number-one singles Bahamian songs Folk songs