Doug Sahm – Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone

I’ve posted a few of Sahm’s tracks in the past 4-5 months. I was inspired this time to post again. I have been reading 11.22.63 by Stephen King, and it’s about a man who was told about a time portal that takes you to September 9, 1958. He walked through and was going back to stop Oswald from killing JFK if Oswald was the one. The book is interesting because of the time he has to kill between 1958 and 1963, and the side trips he takes.

One of them is in Texas in a fictional town called Jodie. He is at a picnic, and this is the paragraph that caught my attention: I got my beer in a paper cup and walked closer to the bandstand. The kid’s voice was familiar. So was the keyboard, which sounded like it desperately wanted to be an accordion. And suddenly it clicked. The kid was Doug Sahm, and not so many years from now he would have hits of his own: “She’s About a Mover” for one, “Mendocino” for another. That would be during the British Invasion, so the band, which basically played Tejano rock, would take a pseudo-British name: The Sir Douglas Quintet.

Hey, inspiration may come from anywhere for a post. After reading that…I’ve been in a Doug Sahm mood. The recording blends country, soul, and Texas rhythm in a way that was natural for Sahm. The groove leans on a steady beat, light horns, and a melody that sticks without trying too hard. It came out during a period when he was working under his own name after years with Sir Douglas Quintet, and it showed how easily he could move between styles. The song had crossed over to country charts and pop audiences, which wasn’t common at the time.

You may remember the version by Charley Pride that peaked at #1 on the Country Charts in 1970. Sahm recorded this for his 1973 album Doug Sahm and Band. Something about Sahm’s version just sounds so authentic that I had to post his version. That is something about Sahm I’ve realized, everything he does sounds authentic. It was written by Glenn Martin and Dave Kirby. The first version was by Bake Turner in 1970. 

Doug Sahm and Band peaked at #125 on the Billboard Album Charts and #54 in Canada in 1973. This is another artist where the charts don’t tell the story. His albums are accessible and are full of good songs. 

Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone

Rain drippin’ off the brim of my hatIt sure is cold todayHere I am walkin’ down 66Wish she hadn’t done me that way

Sleepin’ under a table in a roadside parkA man could wake up deadBut it sure seems warmer than it didSleepin’ in our king-sized bed

Is anybody goin’ to San AntoneOr Phoenix, Arizona?Any place is alright as long as ICan forget I’ve ever known her

Wind whippin’ down the neck of my shirtLike I ain’t got nothin’ onBut I’d rather fight the wind and rainThan what I’ve been fightin’ at home

Yonder comes a truck with the U.S. MailPeople writin’ letters back homeTomorrow, she’ll probably want me backBut I’ll still be just as gone

Is anybody goin’ to San AntoneOr Phoenix, Arizona?Any place is alright as long as ICan forget I’ve ever known her

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

47 thoughts on “Doug Sahm – Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone”

  1. Great story about how you arrived at this song Max. I have always loved the version by Charlie Pride and honestly never heard of Bake Turner but he did a great job on it. First time hearing it from Doug Sahm and I particularly enjoyed that live version. He really puts it out.

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  4. Since he’s from San Antonio, that’s about as authentic as you can get. I like the live version with them switching up on instruments. Instead of Vox Continental, Augie Meyers is on guitar, and Sahm is on fiddle instead of guitar.

    I’m trying to remember if we were fooled when The Sir Douglas Quintet came out with “She’s About a Mover” and if we actually thought they were British.

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  5. Great song. I knew of Doug Sahm’s “Mendocino” decades before I had ever heard his name, which was likely on your blog.

    German crooner Michael Holm recorded a German version of that song in 1969 and scored a major hit with it there. Since I was only 3 years then, I doubt that’s when I heard it for the first time, but I definitely recall hearing it later on the radio and watching Holm perform it on TV.

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    1. That is so cool that a German version hit there like that singing about San Antone! I would have never guessed that.
      I think I just posted Mendocino a few months ago…I don’t like posting artists this close together but since I came across his name in that book…thats the only excuse I needed!

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      1. Max, you continually amaze me with what you post. That’s why I am forever trolling the old posts. The fact that you post the same tune more than once is a sign of respect. The fact that today you posted Taj doing Katy as opposed to 6 Days On The Road, which you mentioned a few weeks back and I have eagerly been anticipating a post of Taj, Dudley and the Burritos is just another example of what a master you are.

        Allow me the obvious. Please continue my friend.

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      2. Thank you so much! Yea I was going to post 6 Days on the Road…but then I looked in the archive…and damn…I already posted it! Not too long ago…that was the first Taj Mahal song I posted I think.

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  6. Quite listenable and very country! I like the mix of bluegrass instruments going on there.
    Cool that you found him referenced in the Stephen King novel. That’s one I’ve not read but always thought looked intriguing. King rarely lets a book go by without getting in a reference to the Ramones, I seem to remember.

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    1. I thought maybe you had heard of Pride’s version. Something I’ve noticed Dave…Country Music was HUGE in Canada in the 70s…more than I ever thought when I look at the Canadian Country Charts…not this song in particular but in general. Well Doug’s album did much better there!

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      1. seems so, but from my standpoint, it wasn’t big in Toronto, so I didn’t hear a lot of it other than the crossovers from Charlie Rich, Dolly Parton and Glen Campbell basically. But I think it probably ruled on the Prairie airwaves – Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba

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  7. Where to start? I think I will start with did we think the Sir Douglas Quintet was British? There was such stupid hype about the Byrds being the American Beatles, and substitute any band for the Byrds. There was a hit song called “Black is Black” by a band Los Bravos who were supposedly from Spain but that lead singer just sounded like good rock and roll to me. And with no disrespect to folks from other countries, but Augie Meyers is always Texan, no matter where he was from. No, She’s About A Mover was great stuff and it didn’t matter where it came from.

    I love the Stephen King story. I don’t read much by KIng, which I recognize is my loss.

    Doug Sahm authentic? Is water wet? Is the Pope Catholic in the wood? Doug Sahm is one of the most authentic musicians. Everything he does sounds like, well, Doug Sahm and all that he could embrace. That may sound like a twist of nothingness (and I don’t deny it) but IT IS TRUE.

    Live or Studio? Oh, c’mon now. That’s not really a point of discussion. Sahm in the studio is interesting and always fun. But Live? That’s where the man shone. That’s where it was just him and his music and we were all watching, grooving, participating in the service in the church of Sahm.

    Oh, by the way. Yeah, I like Doug Sahm. Always have. I bet you couldn’t tell.

    About the song. I’m sure I have heard Charlie Pride’s version. But when I think of this song I think of Sahm. No brainer.

    There are lots of great music that belong in the Texas Great Music Hall of Fame, if there is one. Doug Sahm is an obvious initial choice.

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    1. Normally I don’t read fiction…but this one is interesting….I’ve read IT and Christine by King…that is about it. I loved that he mentioned Sahm though.

      Yes…live is where he did come alive to me…your eyes and ears follow him on the stage…he had a presence about him.

      I first heard it by Pride as a kid…but yea…this is the version that I love.

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    1. It’s not a horror book at all. No supernatural…well..except the time portal! To be honest…it’s more of a love story.
      It has violence but natural violence like jealous husbands etc… it’s intriguing to say the least. He makes it feel like you are in the early 60s completely.
      The way the portal works makes it interesting…you go through and it’s Sept 9, 1958…if you stay…lets say 5 years or 60 minutes and then walk back through…only 2 minutes pass by in our time…but of course you have aged 5 years or whatever. And…after you change the past…if the worst happens…all you have to do is travel back through again and it resets everything….but you are back on Sept 9, 1958 and have to start all over again. I would be on a jet to London in the early sixties lol.

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      2. Lets stop at The Cavern and then skip to Hamburg.
        One funny story from the book that is not a spoiler…the portal (no explanation) is in back of a diner…the owner for years has bought his food in 1958 with those prices…and that is the reason his food is so good and affordable now. lol

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    2. (The book is worth a read Li, there’s a bit of horror but it is of the bad human being sort rather than the Supernatural. There are a few decent observations on what changes at the time can change the future monumentally. A good read overall IMHO.)

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      3. If you cant get enough, here’s a lead. ‘The Return Of The Formerly Brothers’. He hooked up with Amos Garret and Gene Taylor (Blasters, Canned Heat). How’s that for some familiar connections.

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  12. Another hell of a well written tune lyrically. ‘Sleeping under a table in a roadside park / A man could wind up dead / But it sure seems warmer than it did / Sleeping in our king-sized bed.’

    Max, if you have a spare three months reading time King’s ‘The Stand’ is a page turner despite the tome weighing about the same as a half set of encyclopedias. And with about the same amount of pages. There’s been a couple of TV series made about it, one in the 90s, another about 5 years ago. I saw the first, its ok to good, haven’t seen the second but from what I’ve read they took a few liberties with it. But seeing I ain’t seen it…

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    1. Yes…a great lyric!
      Well I read IT so it can’t be much longer obbverse. Ive been told that IT and The Stand are his best books. I remember the first television show about it…I might do it. I’ve never met anyone that read it before…I just read reviews….that could be my next book in line…I also thought about Salems Lot.
      Long books don’t bother me.

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      1. ‘The Stand’ has a lot of great -and not so great, but memorable- characters that stick in the mind. It’s no Spoiler Alert, but it is basically about Good v Evil, power and corruption. It is well wort a read, and in my case at least a couple of re-reads.

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      5. Yes, some books you can do that with. I can do that with an old Sci Fi book George R. Stewarts ‘Earth Abides.’ My go-to King books are -long- ‘The Stand,’ short ‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.’ Both get into the protagonist/s head.

        I just checked to make sure I spelled Stewarts name right and apparently there has been a mini-series made in ’24. I know zero about it!

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  13. I am familiar with the Pride version, but have heard this one too. Very nice. It’s very hard to be disappointed by anything he offers up, be it originals or covers. Great stuff.

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  14. Man I love his version of this song and the great LP it of his that was on. I just wished I’d seen more of Doug when I lived in San Antone for 18 years.

    I will never forget when I was I hope browsing the racks in Apple Records, are used local record store, one day. The door flung open and Doug Spahn stuck his head in and hollered “You got any Conjunto tapes?

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  15. One of my biggest regrets from back when I lived in San Antonio for 18 years was that I did not see Doug Sahm enough. I love that song so much and especially the album it came from. Thanks for the reminder.

    I do have one great memory from those days. One day, I was browsing through the record racks at Apple Records, a used record store in San Antonio. The door flew open and Doug Sahm stuck his head in and hollered. “Hey, do you have any Conjunto tapes?”

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    1. Sorry it took me so long! GREAT story!
      Although I’m just getting to know him more…I so wish I could have seen him as well. He seems magnetic live. I keep going back to that mid-seventies live concert that is on here.

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