Question: I just bought a house in China Grove, Tx (outside of San Antonio) and was wondering what the conection to my new hometown and the Doobie Brother’s song “China Grove” of the 1970s. What caused them to write a song about China Grove? There really isn’t anything spectacular to see here. What’s the scoop?
Hook’em
There is also a China Grove NC. Maybe they were singing about there.
No, it’s definitely China Grove, TX, that the song’s about:
Good timing for this question–I recently visited a friend in Austin, and while we were there we went down to San Antonio to see the Alamo, and from there we drove through China Grove for the hell of it. You’re right, there ain’t much there.
Oh, about the question…I haven’t got a clue; I’ve been wondering the same thing.
That’s one I’ve often wondered about too. I’ve driven through the pl;ace several times and noticed nothing asian about the place, or as you mentioned, not much of anything about the place.
Maybe this is one for Cece?
Well, it had a beat, and you could dance to it, but I really can’t recall a Doobie Brothers song that had a lot of meaning. They certainly had their favorite riff, though.
I saw Tom Johnston do an interview on tv once about that song. He said he didn’t even know there was a China Grove, TX when he wrote it. Apparently it was just a good name for song lyrics.
He said that he was in a cab in Texas some time later, and the cab driver mentioned that he was from China Grove. That was the first he’d heard of it.
This was years ago but I still remember it pretty well. The interview was on the old “Soundstage” show out of Chicago. (Does anyone remember that show? It rocked!)
Which came first…the town or the song? Creepy…
Bullwinkle
I gotta admit I find this fairly difficult to believe, since the song even gives a fairly precise location for the town (down around San Antone). Is it possible that you misheard/misremember the interview, and maybe Johnston said something to the effect that he’d never been there, but just thought it was a good song title?
malaka, this implies to me the town came first (though it doesn’t actually say when the town was named China Grove, it certainly implies the song was named after the town).
I found some more about the naming of the town here (but not the naming of the song):
Tom Johnson may have been smoking quite a bit of the herb they named the band after during those writing sessions, since a second reference to Texas is late in the song:
What I heard about this song is that the Brothers’ tour bus broke down outside San Antonio in or near, you guessed it, China Grove (I might’ve even gotten that off this here message board).
The song followed from their time spent waiting for the bus to be fixed.
Because singing “Iraq Grove” would just be too silly.
Oh yeah, and shouldn’t this be in Cafe Society?
I think the years and heroin haven’t been good to Tom, mostly the the heroin.
Another story goes that the song was written about a late night hunt for drugs after a concert in San Antonio. Which is so much more believable than making up a song about a small town around San Antonio that just happens to be called ‘China Grove’.
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I love a good zombie rock song origins thread, with a heroin chaser tossed in.
I’ve wondered about this as well (I make a habit sometimes of visiting towns mentioned in songs).
Anyone remember the John Carpenter movie Darkstar? Trust me, don’t bother visiting Benson, Arizona (themesong). :rolleyes:
How about Winslow, Arizona? Luckenbach, Texas?
Any of these places worth visiting?
Luchenbach, Texas - population 3 - is pretty cool. It’s a general store/post office/souvenir shop, and an outdoor stage venue.
Viva Terlingua. It’s a way cool town but you really, really got to want to go bad to get there.