It was 55 years ago Sunday (July 12th, 1965) that the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson began recording the group's 1966 hit “Sloop John B,” the first song tracked for the group's legendary Pet Sounds album. It was the group's rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, the folk music aficionado in the band, who suggested the group cover the standard, which had been recorded by the Kingston Trio, among many others. In the group's 1998 documentary Endless Harmony, Jardine recalled, “I tried persuading Brian to record the track a year before we finally cut it. I sat and played these chord progressions, basically three chords done on a guitar, banjo and keyboards. I knew it had to have keyboards, otherwise I knew it wouldn't get his attention.”
Despite Jardine providing the inspiration and basic arrangement of the tune, he was shut out of receiving a “traditional copyright” credit for the tune along with Wilson.
For the vocal sessions for the song, Wilson recorded versions with lead vocals by each of the Beach Boys — Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Jardine, and himself — and ultimately selected his own and Love's vocals for the final version. The song, which was released on March 21st, 1966, peaked at Number Three. In Britain, it hit Number Two.