Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote an incredible number of songs over the years, and their "go-to girl," the woman they turned to most frequently to perform their songs, was the lovely Dionne Warwick. "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" came out in April 1968, hot on the heels of her double-sided hit "(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls"/"I Say A Little Prayer," and became her third consecutive hit in the latter months of 1967 and 1968. It reached #10 in the US, #8 in Canada, the UK, and Ireland, and she won the Grammy in 1969 for Best Female PopVocal Performance, which she considers the high point of her career.
19 thoughts on “Song of the Day: Dionne Warwick, “Do You Know The Way To San Jose?””
Comments are closed.
Fabulous song fabulous voice 💜
LikeLike
Some of My Burt and Hall Favorites: Jackie DeShannon’s “What The World Needs Now” 1965 – Gene Pitney “True Love Never Runs Smooth” – 1963, Marty Robbins “The Story of My Life” – 1957, Dusty Springfield “Wishin’ and Hopin” 1964 and “Make it Easy On Yourself” Jerry Butler 1962 and The Walker Brothers 1965
One silly one “The Blob” by The Five Blobs
LikeLike
My first non labor job in 1986…I was tasked with organizing a printer’s company stock room…I had oldies radio playing…I’m back in 1986 when I hear this…I remember the station 96.3 Nashville.
LikeLike
I remember this song, from being in the car with my mom. It seemed like there was a mini revival in something like big(ish) band music.
LikeLike
I think Adult Contemporary (Easy Listening) music, of which this is a prime example, never goes completely out of style.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes I do, very well. This wasn’t one of my favorite songs by her though.
LikeLike
I liked “Valley of the Dolls,” myself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a great song and she was great at this time before she found psychic world
LikeLike
Remember how she was spelling her name “Warwicke” for a while? A psychic told her to do that. Great voice, though.
LikeLike
Terrific song choice
LikeLike
I thought of a few LA songs besides the one I used for Song Lyric Sunday, and I’ll be sharing those this week. Put Bacharach/David and Dionne Warwick together, and the results are magic.
LikeLike
I did not know the history of this song and only in he last few years heard this song for the first time –
LikeLike
Really? Interesting… Dionne’s heyday was in the ’60’s and ’70’s, so you might have missed her.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes – and even though I know music from those days – my brothers were into rock and roll and so I knew that genre – and mu cousin played some music in the car and she helped me get to know air supply and the like –
I know Warwick from the 80s collage and others – but did not know most of her stuff
LikeLike
She’s a tremendous singer…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes – but for a while she was on the infomercials for weird spiritual stuff – can not recall all but something like fortune telling and medium stuff that I stay away from –
But no denying her vocal strength
LikeLike
She was spelling her name “Warwicke” for a while because a psychic told her it was better. To each their own.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ahhhh – yes – to each their own and that used to be my memory of her –
LikeLike