Happy Anniversary: The Doobie Brothers, “China Grove”
41 years ago today, the Doobie Brothers released the second single from their 1973 album, The Captain and Me, introducing generations of radio listeners to a town in Texas while simultaneously misinforming them about where samurai come from.
It’s relatively common knowledge that the band took their name from a friend’s suggestion – “You guys smoke so much pot, you should call yourselves the Doobie Brothers” – but there’s an unsubstantiated claim on Wikipedia that they got the titles of their demos from whatever cigarettes songwriter Tom Johnston was smoking at the time. We’re a bit doubtful of this assertion, as the only place we can find it is in discussions about “China Grove,” which was reportedly originally entitled “Parliament,” but, hey, maybe somewhere in the Warner Brothers archives there’s a demo for “Listen to the Music” that’ll never be found because the tape box is still labeled “Viceroy.” (We’ll get an intern on that right away.)
What has been confirmed, however, are the origins of “China Grove,” which Johnston discussed in a November 2011 interview with Vintage Guitar. Written in his bedroom when he was living on South 12th Street in San Jose, California, Johnston said of the song, “I came up with the chords (and) I grabbed John, who was asleep – he wasn’t real happy about it – and I said, ‘Let’s go downstairs, now!’ I plugged into the amp and started slammin’. He dug it, I dug it. So we went in the studio with the chord changes and the rhythm structure, and I really owe Billy Payne for the words because he played this wacky (melody in the bridge) that started the thinking process with this wacky sheriff, samurai swords, and all that.”
Although the real China Grove is indeed located “down around San Antone,” making it relatively spot-on from a geographical standpoint, it’s fair to say that Johnston’s use of the word “wacky” definitely comes closer to describing the song’s lyrics than “sociologically accurate.” For instance, as we hinted at earlier, if “the sheriff and his buddies” are brandishing samurai swords, then they’re much more likely to be on duty in Japan Grove. Also, China Grove isn’t exactly the go-to town for individuals of Chinese descent…or anyone else, for that matter: there’s only 4.1 square miles to the whole place, and as of the 2010 census, the total population topped out at less than 1,200 people. (In fairness, there’s probably a preacher and a teacher somewhere in that bunch.)
Are we taking this too seriously? Possibly. It’s only a rock ‘n’ roll song, after all. Besides, if it’s good enough to lead off the Doobie Brothers’ first greatest-hits album, then what we should really do is just shut up, lean back, and listen to the music.
