The John B. Sails

"The John B. Sails"
Sloops off Nassau, Bahama Islands, c. 1900.
Song
Published	1916
Writer(s)	Unknown
Language	English
Music sample Banjo/vocal performance of "The John B. Sails" (3:25)

"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; variant titles include "I Want to Go Home", "Wreck of the John B", and most famously, "Sloop John B," as recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys in 1966.

The song 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.

Carl Sandburg included the first three verses and chorus of "The John B. Sails" in his 1927 collection of folksongs, The American Songbag. He states that he collected it from John T. McCutcheon (a political cartoonist from Chicago) and his wife, Evelyn Shaw McCutcheon, who at the time owned Blue Lagoon Island, a Cay off of Nassau. The McCutcheons told him:

Time and usage have given this song almost the dignity of a national anthem around Nassau. The weathered ribs of the historic craft lie imbedded in the sand at Governor's Harbor, whence an expedition, especially sent up for the purpose in 1926, extracted a knee of horseflesh and a ring-bolt. These relics are now preserved and built into the Watch Tower, designed by Mr. Howard Shaw (ed. note: Evelyn Shaw McCutcheon's father) and built on our southern coast a couple of points east by north of the star Canopus.

Sandburg's version of "The John B. Sails" is the one most often recorded. It is perhaps from the remarks by the McCutcheons, which Sandburg attached to the song, that a frequent title—"Wreck of the John B"—is derived, since no lyrics report a wreck. Alan Lomax included the song in his 1935 collection, Deep River of Song, as "Histe Up The John B Sail"; sung by the Cleveland Simmons Group, Old Bight, Cat Island, Bahamas, July 1935. In 1950, the Weavers released "Wreck of the John B", bringing the song wider notice and beginning a string of recordings by other artists. Several artists/bands released a version of the song between 1951 and 1966: