China Grove (song)

"China Grove" is a song from The Doobie Brothers' 1973 album The Captain and Me. It was written by original lead singer Tom Johnston, before he fell ill in 1975 and was replaced by Michael McDonald. The song is based on a real town in Texas with the same name. The connection is obvious given its real-life proximity to San Antonio, which is referenced in the lyrics. However, the rest of the song is largely a fictional account portraying China Grove as Texas' version of Chinatown. Notable is the mention of samurai, who in fact are Japanese, not Chinese.

Origins

The track was originally titled "Parliament" after the band's tradition of naming demos after whatever brand of cigarette Tom Johnston was smoking at the time. According to producer Ted Templeman, "Billy Payne played a keyboard thing on the bridge that sounded like an Oriental lick, so I told Tommy, 'Write something that sounds oriental.' So he came up with 'China Grove'."

Cover versions

• Dolly Parton covered the song in 1976 on her variety show Dolly!.
• An instrumental of the song is the theme song of the Fox game show Don't Forget the Lyrics!. The instrumental is performed by band leader Rickey Minor. (On one of the episodes there is a question whose answer is "China Grove".)

External links

• [1] Austin Chronicle article on Texas named songs