Going to Chino

Going to Chino
Album	The Hound Chronicles
Released	1992
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	4:19
Previous track	"(Untitled)"
Next track	"Standard Bitter Love Song #4"

Going to Chino is the ninth song on The Mountain Goats' second cassette, The Hound Chronicles.

Lyrics

I'd like to say hello
To all our friends from Chino
To the people of Chino, hello
I'd like to say hello
To all our friends from Chino
To the people of Chino, hello

I know how hard it is down in Chino
I know how you struggle just to get by
I know they got farm fresh eggs down in Chino
And tract homes reasonably priced

I'd like to say hello
To all our friends from Chino
To the people from Chino, hello
I'd like to say hello
To all our friends from Chino
To the people from Chino, hello

Convenient access to the 60 freeway
Accredited medical care down at Chino Valley Hospital
A unified school system, the likes of which you won't find elsewhere
And friendly people

I would like to say hello
To all our friends from Chino
To the people from Chino, hello
I'd just like to say hello
To all our friends from Chino
To the people from Chino
Hello

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "...The first time that Peter Hughes saw me play, right, I came, I came in to Munchie's, which was our club. It was -- it had been a, uh, restaurant and Dennis Callaci noticed there was a stage and said 'can my band play there?' and they said 'sure'. This became our, our club for two years and it was a place we all went. And, uh, and Dennis asked me to play, and I, I did, I was, at that time, I was kind of, um -- I was very -- you will find this surprising -- I was a really intense person.... And I would play my first song as if my job was to stun you into sticking around, right, like, immobilize you with the death rays of my eyes. I didn't need glasses yet, so I had naked eyes to do it with.... So anyway, so Peter comes up, I had seen his band play the day before and I was completely knocked out, Diskothi-Q was a force of nature. I said, man, dude, that was amazing, that was so good. And he said 'oh, thank you.' 'I'm John.' 'Are you playing?' 'I'm playing tomorrow.' it was a three-day festival. 'Cool, I'll be here,' you know, we were all so excited to have this scene going on. And, um, and so I played at, like, two in the afternoon the next day and I, uh, uh, and I sat down and I, I played my set, and he came up and says he liked it -- 'Oh, thanks, thanks, now what's your name? Peter?' 'Yeah, yeah' 'I'm John. So where are you from?' He says 'I'm from Chino'. And I said, and I said -- Peter -- the reason I know this is because Peter remembers this story. I'll try and see if I can do a Peter Hughes. So I'm doing an imitation of Peter imitating me, um. 'So, so John says, you know, um -- so I said, 'well, I'm from Chino'. And John said 'Chino? I wrote a song about Chino! It's my longest song ever!''" -- 2020-02-22 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA
  • Peter told a shorter version of this story before the band played "Going to Chino" during 2004-02-11 - Mills College Chapel - Oakland, CA.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 1992-07-18 - Casa de Badger - Pomona, CA
• 1992-xx-xx - Munchie's - Pomona, CA
• 1999-01-27 - Cat's Cradle - Chapel Hill, NC
• 2002-10-09 - The Cobblestone - Dublin, Ireland
• 2004-02-11 - Mills College Chapel - Oakland, CA
• 2007-10-30 - Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI
• 2016-10-27 - Hi-Dive - Denver, CO
• 2017-04-11 - The Toff in Town - Melbourne, Australia
• 2020-02-22 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA

The Hound Chronicles
Side One: "The Garden Song" • "Going to Wisconsin" • "Spilling Toward Alpha" • "Alpha Negative" • "Torch Song" • "שקט (Be Quiet)" • "The Cow Song" • "(Untitled)" • "Going to Chino" Side Two: "Standard Bitter Love Song #4" • "Going to Mexico" • "Lab Rat Blues" • "Going to Kansas" • "The Water Song" • "Going to Spain" • "Keep It on Your Mind"