# Doobie Brothers / "China Grove" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783 "2002-10-04T03:29:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Purplehorn3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Purplehorn3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purplehorn3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/1 "2002-10-04T03:29:08Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Weeks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@Weeks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeks)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/2 "2002-10-04T03:32:32Z")
There is also a China Grove NC. Maybe they were singing about there. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/3 "2002-10-04T04:11:18Z")
No, it’s definitely China Grove, TX, that the song’s about: > [@](#): > > _When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town > down around San Antone_ 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. ---
**Author:** ![Fishhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@Fishhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishhead)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/4 "2002-10-04T04:21:45Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/5 "2002-10-04T04:22:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bullwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Bullwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/6 "2002-10-04T06:11:17Z")
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!) ---
**Author:** ![malaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@malaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malaka)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/7 "2002-10-04T13:15:12Z")
Which came first…the town or the song? Creepy… ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/8 "2002-10-04T13:33:05Z")
**Bullwinkle** > [@](#): > > He said he didn’t even know there was a China Grove, TX when he wrote it 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](http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/CC/hrcgf.html) 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). ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/9 "2002-10-04T14:22:49Z")
I found some more about the naming of the town [here](http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/CC/hvc49.html) (but not the naming of the song): > [@](#): > > It was named for the chinaberry trees planted for shade by Warren D. C. Hall,qv owner of the original land grant. Hall, who also raised figs and oranges, operated a plantation called China Grove for a time, then sold it in 1843 to Albert Sidney Johnston and Albert T. Burnley.qqv Johnston took over his partner’s interest, operated the plantation until 1849, and sold it in 1852. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/10 "2002-10-04T16:07:43Z")
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: > [@](#): > > And though it’s part of the Lone Star State, > people don’t seem to care, > they just keep on lookin’ to the East. > (bum, bum, bahhhh) ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/11 "2002-10-04T16:45:35Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Omnipresent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@Omnipresent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omnipresent)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/12 "2002-10-04T17:07:31Z")
Because singing “Iraq Grove” would just be too silly. ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/13 "2002-10-04T18:29:04Z")
Oh yeah, and shouldn’t this be in Cafe Society? ---
**Author:** ![kkevilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@kkevilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kkevilus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/14 "2011-10-30T12:29:18Z")
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’. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/15 "2011-10-30T23:08:30Z")
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/16 "2011-10-31T12:10:55Z")
I love a good zombie rock song origins thread, with a heroin chaser tossed in. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/17 "2011-10-31T12:20:41Z")
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: ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/18 "2011-10-31T12:42:02Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/19 "2011-10-31T13:29:56Z")
Luchenbach, Texas - population 3 - is pretty cool. It’s a general store/post office/souvenir shop, and an outdoor stage venue. [![](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=040.jpg) ](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=040.jpg) [![](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=031.jpg) ](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=031.jpg) [![](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=044.jpg) ](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=044.jpg) [![](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=037.jpg) ](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=037.jpg) [![](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=039.jpg) ](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=039.jpg) [![](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=036.jpg) ](https://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/rmix/2011%20Beesley%20Reunion/?action=view¤t=036.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783/20 "2011-10-31T13:36:48Z")
Viva [Terlingua](http://www.ghosttowntexas.com/terlingua.html). It’s a way cool town but you really, really got to want to go bad to get there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doobie-brothers-china-grove/130783.md?page=2)