Brian included "Sloop John B" on "Pet Sounds" to appease Capitol Records, who voiced concerns that the album required the inclusion of a hit single in order to sell. The song is often said to disrupt the album's lyrical flow, as author Jim Fusilli explains: "It's anything but a reflective love song, a stark confession or a tentative statement of independence like the other songs on the album. And it's the only song on "Pet Sounds" Brian didn't write." However, Fusilli posits that the track fits musically with the album, citing the track's chiming guitars, doubletracked basses, and staccato rhythms. Noting that a sense of self-doubt, concern for the future of a relationship, and melancholy pervades "Pet Sounds", Perone says the song successfully portrays a sailor who feels "completely out of place in his situation", a quality that is "fully in keeping with the general feeling of disorientation that runs through so many of the songs."