John B. Sails, The

DESCRIPTION: A description of a horrible journey on the "sloop John B." Refrain: "Let me go home! I want to go home; I feel so break-up, I want to go home." Among the problems on the voyage: A drunken first mate who is arrested for robbery and a cook who won't
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor hardtimes cook Caribbean
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 22-23, "The John B. Sails" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 280, "The John B.'s Sails" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 93, "John B. Sails" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 55, 289, "Sloop John B" (notes only)
DT, WRKJOHNB
Roud #15634
RECORDINGS:
Rex Allen, "Wreck of the John B" (Mercury 5573, 1951)
Blind Blake Higgs, "John B Sail (Wreck of the John B.)" (on WIHIGGS01)
Cleveland Simmons Group: "Histe Up the John B. Sail" (AAFS 418 B2, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Sloop John B.
The Wreck of the John B.
NOTES [40 words]: Although I have yet to encounter a version of this song actually describing the sinking of the John B., the craft is said to lie at the bottom of Governor's Harbor in Nassau, where its remains are considered almost a historic monument. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: San022

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