Sail On, Sailor is one of the best songs the Beach Boys ever recorded. It was on the underrated Holland album and was co-written by Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks and two dudes I’ve never heard of. The album was released during Brian’s Howard Hughes phase, so Blondie Chaplin sang lead on the original version. It has one of the *best* bridges in rock history. We begin with the 1973 studio version:
Here’s a sloppy but spirited live version featuring Brian Wilson, Matthew Sweet and Darius Rucker:
Finally, an oddball version wherein Rodney Crowell rehearses the song with the Beach Boys for a 1996 live performance:
