Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Dionne Warwick

Do You Know the Way to San Jose - Dionne Warwick
2:58
Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, 1968
Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David

Warwick's light, sprightly vocals ride a muscular rhythm track of electric bass and prominent bass drum, with horns punching in at the middle eight.  Warwick never liked this track, calling it "a dumb song" in 1983, but she was glad it was a hit!  Lyrically, the song is another of many depicting those trying to make it big in Hollywood but never hitting the big time.  The narrator yearns for the simpler life in the titular city, disparaging Tiseltown's fickle nature: "L.A. is a great big freeway, put a hundred down and buy a car / In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star / Weeks turn into years, how quick they pass / And all the stars that never were are parking cars and pumping gas."