Australian singles charts:
China Grove entered the Kent charts on 17 December 1973 and peaked at #61.
Album:
The song is on the Doobie Brothers album The Captain and Me.
Songwriter:
Tom Johnston
Producer:
Ted Templeman
Record label of Australian release:
Warner Bros
Songfacts:
China Grove is a small town in Texas, about 10 miles from San Antonio in Bexar county. Did Doobie Brothers singer/guitarist Tom Johnston know this when he wrote the song? Sort of. Here’s what he told Songfacts: “The words were written last, and they were made up around this whole idea of this wacky little town with a sheriff that had a Samurai Sword and all that sort of thing. The funny thing was that I found out in 1975 in a cab in Houston that there really was a China Grove, although what happened was 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.”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/the-doobie-brothers/china-grove
Lyrics:
When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town
Down around San Antone
And the folks are risin’ for another day
‘Round about their homes
The people of the town are strange
And they’re proud of where they came
Well, you’re talkin’ ’bout China Grove
Oh, China Grove
Click for full lyrics
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