"China Grove" is a song from The Doobie Brothers' 1973 album The Captain and Me

The Captain and Me

The Captain and Me is the third studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1973. It features some of their most popular hits including "Long Train Running", "China Grove" and "Without You". The album is certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA.- Recording and content :This time...

. It was written by original lead singer Tom Johnston, before he fell ill in 1975 and was replaced by Michael McDonald

Michael McDonald (singer)

Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...

. The song is based on a real town in Texas

China Grove, Texas

China Grove is a town in Bexar County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,247 at the 2000 census. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:China Grove is located at ....

 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

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

, 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
  Dolly Parton
  Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
  
   covered the song in 1976 on her variety show Dolly!.
• An instrumental of the song is the theme song of the Fox
  Fox Broadcasting Company
  Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
  
   game show Don't Forget the Lyrics!
  Don't Forget the Lyrics!
  Don't Forget the Lyrics! is a game show that originally aired on Fox from July 11, 2007 to June 19, 2009, hosted by Wayne Brady and produced by RDF USA, part of RDF Media. The launch of this show prompted NBC to move up the launch of their similar game show The Singing Bee...
  
  . The instrumental is performed by band leader Rickey Minor
  Rickey Minor
  Rickey Minor is a music director, composer and music producer, now best known as musical director and bandleader for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after Kevin Eubanks left. Minor was born in Monroe, Louisiana to parents Cole and Goldie Minor and was raised in South Central Los Angeles, CA...
  
  . (On one of the episodes there is a question whose answer is "China Grove".)

External links

• http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:188511 Austin Chronicle article on Texas named songs