after decca records, who had first refusal on us release for polydor recordings, passed on "seemann" the track was optioned by kapp records, a us independent label headed by decca president jack kapp's brother david kapp. "banjo-boy" a german number one hit sung in german by jan and kjeld () had recently afforded kapp records a regional us hit with a number fifty-eight peak on the "billboard" hot 100 in "billboard" magazine, and the label evidently saw potential for similar success with "seemann" by lolita. to increase the appeal of "seemann" for the us market, a section spoken in english by maureen rené () was overdubbed on to the track at polydor studio hamburg (rahlstedt). for writing the new english recitation the name of alan holt—a pseudonym for label head david kapp—was listed with werner scharfenberger and fini busch in the songwriting credits for the modified version of "seemann, which was re-titled "sailor (your home is on the sea)" and issued in the us in september 1961.