China Grove, Texas

China Grove by The Doobie Brothers

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Well the preacher and the teacher
Lord, they're a caution
They are the talk of the town Read full Lyrics
No other decade besides the '70s could have given us the Doobie Brothers. Hey, they were named after the slang word for "joint"! And their music style is good ol' American rock 'n' roll, with no pretensions or fancy aspirations. Just solid, sunny songs, each of them designed to play comfortably from either stage or radio speaker. The Doobie Brothers are so cool, they sweat cool.

So how would you feel if it was 1973 and you were living in a very tiny town in the middle of Bexar County, Texas, in a place so unknown and obscure that it has to be counted as part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area, and then one day, from out of nowhere, these rock gods simply descended from Heaven and gave your little town one of the most awesome anthems ever to rock out to? There just might be shrines to the Doobie Brothers in every home there to this day.

The total land area of China Grove, according to the US Census Bureau, is just a gnat's eyelash over four square miles. The population is about 1,200, distributed into about 400 households, representing a little over 350 families. At that kind of size factor, you can imagine the whole town just getting together for dinner once a week, with perhaps a few hands of Texas Hold'em afterwards.

So many false rumors surround "China Grove" that it's worth a paragraph to swat them down. We went right to the source on this one and asked Doobie's lead singer Tom Johnston, who wrote the song, why he wrote about this sleepy little town. He told us:

"In 1972 we were touring in Winnebagos, and we were driving into San Antonio. And there is a China Grove, Texas, right outside of San Antonio. I must have seen the sign and forgotten about it. And when I came up with the term 'China Grove,' I thought I was just making it up because of the words being about this crazy sheriff with a Samurai Sword."

The various Eastern metaphors ("looking to the East" and the Samurai swords), are a kind of play with ideas; fictionalizing the town into a Texas version of "little China." No, there is no connection in the lyrics with drugs, especially not with the kind of heroin known as "China white." And also, it is impossible to grow plates, teacups, and saucers on trees in a grove.

And before anybody pounces on it, yes, we know that samurai are actually Japanese, not Chinese, and that there are also China Groves in Louisiana, Mississippi, and North and South Carolina.

China Grove has taken on a life of its own, escaping the '70s to become one of the definitive rock songs. It has been adopted for the theme songs to TV shows, parodied on The Simpsons and King of the Hill, and is a selectable song in various versions of Nintendo's Guitar Hero game series.

And of course, it plays every year in the town of China Grove, at the Annual China Grove Potluck Supper And Line Dance. Just kidding. But seriously, how would you even know?

Pete Trbovich
February 20, 2011
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Comments: 15

  • Matthew from San Antonio / SayersThe dirt bike track that Bob is referring to was on my grandparents property, where I grew up. My grandma says that it was a free concert where you entry required the donation of a canned good. She says there was an estimated 45,000 attendees for the Aerosmith & Doobies concert. She remembers waking up the next day thinking it must have snows, because of the amount of trash on the property.
  • Mi from DoobieforniaMrs. Perkins is the town's getabout 'Teacher' recently transferred in from Harper Valley and do'in the Preacher.
  • Karen from China Grove Texas I love my little town
  • Mike C. from Galena Park Tx.Been A Fan Going On 50 Years This Year 2020. One Day I Will Make It To CHINA GROVE. Keep On ROCKING DOWN THE HIGHWAY. You Can Not Beat THE DOOBIE BROTHERS.
  • Jim Moreland from Canyon Lake, Txrock on!
  • Molly from Bastrop, TxHeard this song since day one and here 40+ years later, I Googled it! Born and raised in Waco, Tx. Love the Doobies!! <3
  • Bill from LouisianaWho is Mrs. Perkins?
  • Joe Dokes from Manchester UkThanks for the song background.
  • Paraquat Kelley from DallasThe song clearly states down around San Antone dumbass!
  • Bob from San AntonioI know how & when Tom Johnston had seen the China Grove sign that he (subconsciously)wrote about years later. In the early 70's, I had been to a dirt bike race track area or an enduro, where friends raced there, & they had a big Doobie's concert with Aerosmith, who were just getting famous in the early 70's with "Get Your Wings" album just out. The somewhat crude concert was in Sayers, Texas, east of San Antonio on Hwy 87. They passed China Grove when either left San Antonio for Sayers, or coming back to SA, or both. It's a name that will stick with you alright. Someone please tell Tom Johnston. The minute I had first heard "China Grove" on the radio when it came out, I just "knew" that they wrote it from seeing the Hwy. 87 sign on that tour when at Sayers. Super great dance song regardless.
  • Brad from Californiahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYsKvoslEdk
  • Henry Medina from San Antonio TexasChina Grove is just outside of San Antonio just like it says in the song not Houston. Morons!
  • Moonunit from Cary "a Dairy Queen and everything"
  • Bg Swirv from TexasI think the years and heroin haven't been good to Tom, mostly the the heroin. The late night hunt for drugs 'rumor' 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'.
  • Pooper from China Grove, TxChina Grove is actually a busy town. It has a Dairy Queen and everything.
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