Sloop John B

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“Sloop John B”
“Sloop John B” cover
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album Pet Sounds
Released March 1966
Format Vinyl
Recorded July 12, 1965 – January 1966
Genre Baroque Pop
Length 3:01
Label Capitol Records
Producer Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Barbara Ann"/"Girl Don't Tell Me"
(1965)		 "Sloop John B"/"You're So Good to Me"
(1966)		 "Wouldn't It Be Nice"/"God Only Knows"
(1966)

"Sloop John B" is the seventh track on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album and was also a single which was released in 1966 on Capitol Records. It was originally a traditional West Indies folk song, possibly recorded earliest by The Weavers under the title "Wreck of the John B", the song taken from a collection by Carl Sandburg (1927). Alan Lomax made a field recording of the song in Nassau, 1935, under the title "Histe Up the John B. Sail". This recording appears on the album Bahamas 1935: Chanteys And Anthems From Andros And Cat Island.[1] The song was adapted by Weavers member Lee Hays. The recording of the song which directly influenced The Beach Boys was by The Kingston Trio.

The John B. was an old sponger boat whose crew were in the habit of getting notoriously merry whenever they made port. It was wrecked and sunk at Governor's Harbour in Eleuthera, the Bahamas, in about 1900.[citation needed]

The song has been recorded by many artists, including The Calypso Bandits, Joseph Spence, Tom Fogerty, Roger Whittaker, Johnny Cash, Jimmie Rodgers, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dick Dale, Catch 22, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Relient K, Dan Zanes, and Okkervil River. In 1960, Lonnie Donegan had a UK Top 10 hit with it under the title "I Wanna Go Home".

Contents

[edit] Beach Boys version

[edit] Idea for the song

The Beach Boys' Alan Jardine, who was a keen folk music fan, suggested to Brian Wilson that the Beach Boys should do a cover version of "Sloop John B". As Jardine explains:

Brian was at the piano. I asked him if I could sit down and show him something. I laid out the chord pattern for 'Sloop John B'. I said, 'Remember this song?' I played it. He said, 'I'm not a big fan of the Kingston Trio.' He wasn't into folk music. But I didn't give up on the idea. So what I did was to sit down and play it for him in the Beach Boys idiom. I figured if I gave it to him in the right light, he might end up believing in it. So I modified the chord changes so it would be a little more interesting. The original song is basically a three-chord song, and I knew that wouldn't fly. So I put some minor changes in there, and it stretched out the possibilities from a vocal point of view. Anyway, I played it, walked away from the piano and we went back to work. The very next day, I got a phone call to come down to the studio. Brian played the song for me, and I was blown away. The idea stage to the completed track took less than 24 hours.[2]

[edit] Choosing the lead vocalist

Al Jardine then explains that Brian "then 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. Brian and Mike ended up singing it. But I had a lot of fun bringing the idea to the band. It was very rewarding in every way but one; I was never given label credit for my contribution."[3] On the final recording, Brian Wilson sang the first and third verses, while Mike Love sang the second verse. The box set The Pet Sounds Sessions includes two alternate takes, one with Carl Wilson singing lead on the first two verses, and one with Brian Wilson singing all parts.

[edit] Lyrics changes

Brian Wilson changed the lyrics in three of the lines of the song. He changed the lyric "This is the worst trip since I've been born" to "This is the worst trip I've ever been on". He also changed the lyric "I feel so break up" to "I feel so broke up." The line "broke into the people's trunk" is changed to "Broke in the captain's trunk."

[edit] Details

[edit] Performers

[edit] Cultural references

On occasions the song is chanted at Football and Cricket grounds, first by Manchester United fans, then Liverpool.

  • Dr. Miguelito Loveless, in the TV series The Wild Wild West sang a version of this in a duet with Antoinette in the episode titled "The Night of the Raven" (original air date 30 September 1966).
  • In the episode "Open Water" of the television show CSI: Miami, which was about a double murder on a cruise ship, the song is played at the end of the episode.
  • The indie folk rock band Okkervil River adopts the chorus of the song, making it a song about John Berryman, as an outro to the final song "John Allyn Smith Sails" on their The Stage Names LP.
  • The song can be heard being played off the radio faintly in the background of the movie Forrest Gump for a brief moment while in Vietnam.
  • During the BBC programme Three Men and Another Boat with Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O'Brien and Rory McGrath, McGrath is heard singing the popular song whilst out sailing in the English Channel.
  • In the film Full of It, the main character Sam and his family sing the song while driving Sam to school.
  • In Alan Dean Foster's book Spellsinger, the main character finds himself in a boat at sea and sings this song as a spell to get his companions and himself home, but only succeeds in getting everyone drunk/sick - and just missing his chance to get back to his own dimension.
  • In Calendar Girls, the song is heard as a "victory" song just as the protagonists realize that their "failed" press conference has only been re-located to a larger room and was a bigger success than previously expected.

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

  1. ^ amazon.com listing for Alan Lomax field recording
  2. ^ The Pet Sounds Sessions: "The Making Of Pet Sounds" booklet, pg. 25–26
  3. ^ The Pet Sounds Sessions: "The Making Of Pet Sounds" booklet, pg. 26
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