(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Thu 5 February 2026 6:00, UK
While many listeners regard The Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds to be a masterpiece and the absolute pinnacle of pop music, there’s one song from the record that, for some reason, sticks out like a sore thumb.
The large majority of the album is a showcase of Brian Wilson‘s exceptional songwriting and production skills, and its innovative approach in both of these senses is a large reason why it remains such a cultural touchstone and pillar of influence as it approaches its 60th anniversary.
One major part of the band’s identity was their close harmonies, something that they’d been showcasing way before the release of this seminal record, and while there are two songs on Pet Sounds that lack words entirely, they seem to fit with the flow of the record as interludes that sit just before the final tracks on each side of the vinyl release.
Some might argue that ‘Let’s Go Away For A While’, and the title track are the more headscratching inclusions on the album, but in reality, the more peculiar cut is a traditional cover that Wilson arranged for the album, whose origins date back to the early 20th century in the Bahamas.
‘Sloop John B’ is by no means a terrible song, especially not the version that the band chose to record for Pet Sounds, but it does feel somewhat out of place considering how it’s far more simplistic in its arrangement than a large majority of the rest of the album. The luscious vocal harmonies are still present, but they’re more akin to the barbershop style that the band were known for having delivered during the early 1960s, and given how groundbreaking Pet Sounds is, ‘Sloop John B’ seems like a stylistic step backwards.
Despite this, it was one of Wilson’s personal highlights from recording, and it was largely down to the contributions of one session musician that he looks back on the session so fondly.
Billy Strange played guitar on three songs on Pet Sounds, with him also appearing on ‘You Still Believe in Me’ and ‘Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)’, but it was his ingenious suggestion that he provided on the 12-string guitar for ‘Sloop John B’ that injected life into the song. “I cut the track, right,” Wilson explained during a 1996 interview to celebrate the album’s 30th birthday, before delving into the incredulousness of the guitarist’s alternative suggestion.
“Billy Strange was playing direct in the booth. Guitar. Direct in the booth. He was not in the studio. And after it was done, I went ‘Well, that’s a wrap, guys! That’s it!’ He goes, ‘Hey, wait a minute. What if I played a third above that (sings) do-do-do-do-doot.’ And we overdubbed that onto it and the whole track started to sparkle! I couldn’t believe it, you know? It was like the difference between night and day. Really something.”
It’s still an unusual cut to have on the record, and may well have worked better on one of the band’s earlier releases, but it’s still a lively interpretation of a timeless song that wouldn’t have sounded the same if it weren’t for Strange’s input, and given the level of genius that Wilson was operating on, for someone else to suggest something that he hadn’t thought of is quite remarkable.
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