I saw many people are confused about the song John B. It was first written about in 1916 by an Englishman who had heard the song sailing on a schooner from Nassau to the Exumas in the Bahamas. He put the lyrics to the song in his book titled pieces of eight, and that book is where the lyrics come from. In the song you hear round Nassau Town, Nassau is the capital of the Bahamas. The song is a Bahamian folk song.