It was written primarily by Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson with Ray Kennedy, Tandyn Almer, and Jack Rieley.

Van Dyke Parks, who was then director of audio-visual services at Warner Bros. Records, explained the impetus for the song: "I called [Brian] up out of the clear blue sky and at some point he said, 'Let's write a tune.'

"[3] On another occasion, he shared further context, The entire group [had been] working on a record for delivery to the Warner Bros. label.

Mo Ostin held great expectations for that record and suggested that my working with Brian again might goad him to similar creative heights we had reached in Smile.

Mo was astonished that Brian wasn't participating in the album, and feeling somewhat deceived, thought I should step forward, as I was in large part the reason for their commitment to the group.

[4]Parks credited himself as the primary composer of "Sail On, Sailor", saying, "I went over to Brian's with my new [tape recorder] and told him the name of the tune and sang those intervals, and he pumped out the rest of that song.

"[8] Biographer Timothy White quoted an anonymous source's description of the tape's contents, "Brian was playing that song on the piano.

[7]Another report of the tape's contents details a slightly different exchange: Wilson: Hypnotize me, Van Dyke.

"[11] Parks said that he subsequently "put the tape away, and lay low", as he had "wanted to avoid getting involved with the internecine group dilemmas once again.

Biographer Peter Ames Carlin stated that the song was essentially co-written by Wilson and Parks in 1971, with Kennedy and Almer's lyrical contributions dating from impromptu sessions at Three Dog Night singer Danny Hutton's house during the period.

Tandyn Almer and I wrote a song, "Sail On, Sailor" [...] on a Wurlitzer electric piano and Ray Kennedy was there and started writing some lyrics.

Then Brian got up with a razor blade and cut the tapes and said, "Only Ray Kennedy or Van Dyke Parks can do this song."

"[15]Manager Jack Rieley stated that when he was informed by Warner Bros. executives of the song's existence, he took a flight from Holland to Los Angeles and, while staying at a Holiday Inn, devised new lyrics that "reflected how I felt 'lost like a sewer rat alone but I sail…' about having to fly out to LA.

[18] In October 1972, Warner rejected the Beach Boys' original version of Holland, which had contained "We Got Love" as the opening track, for lacking a potential hit single.

"[8] Biographer Timothy White writes, With Holland in limbo and tempers flaring, a business associate close to the problem decided to contact several people near Brian in the hope that Brian either had composed or could be induced to compose a surefire single suitable for inclusion on the album.

Parks was said to have shown up in the executive offices of Warner-Reprise "minutes" after he was telephoned, carrying a cassette of a song called "Sail On Sailor," which Brian had first drafted in the early 1970s.

[19] After discussion among Warner executives, Parks said that he had the aforementioned tape of "Sail On, Sailor", and suggested that the song could be recorded as the album's lead track.

[5][20] The label then enjoined the Beach Boys to drop what the company perceived as the weakest track ("We Got Love") and replace it with the song.

He told Mo Ostin and David Berson that I was holding back a great song.

[16] According to biographer Steven Gaines, Ironically, when Mo Ostin and David Berson told the group they wanted to put "Sail on Sailor" on the Holland album and release it as a single, it became impossible for them to get Brian into the studio.

When Brian finally got around to working, he started his usual procrastination, tinkering with the song, trying to make it perfect, as he had with "Good Vibrations" and Smile.

[22] Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher, despite expressing distaste for much of the band's work after ceasing his collaboration with Brian Wilson, praised the song as "just dandy".