“Sloop John B” by The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys took "Sloop John B", an old Bahamian folk song out of Nassau, and turned it into folk rock for Pet Sounds in 1966, with Brian Wilson producing and arranging. The tune had been around in print since Richard Le Gallienne transcribed it in 1916, and Carl Sandburg later tucked a version into The American Songbag, but Wilson dressed it up in style: Billy Strange's 12-string, flutes from Jim Horn and Jay Migliori, Frank Capp's glockenspiel, Jack Nimitz's bass saxophone and Hal Blaine on drums, with Carol Kaye and Lyle Ritz holding down the bottom.

Mike Love and Brian Wilson share the lead, and the real jolt is the a cappella break, a stretch of bare voices that no other pop record of the day was attempting. It became one of the group's biggest hits, reaching number three in the U.S. and two in Britain.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.