The John B. Sails - 1927: Carl Sandburg

1927: Carl Sandburg

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 McCutchen (a political cartoonist from Chicago) and Evelyn McCutchen, who 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 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.