Do You Know the Way to San Jose

Bacharach had composed the music for the song before David wrote its lyrics. David had a special interest in San Jose, having been stationed there while in the Navy. The track was the last Dionne Warwick single to be recorded at New York City's Bell Sound Studios. It features a prominent use of bass drum, played by session musician Gary Chester. The engineer was Ed Smith, who devised the famous introduction to the tune by directly attaching a microphone to the head of Chester's bass drum. The electric bass was played by studio musician Lou Mauro. Warwick did not like "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", and she had to be convinced to record it. In a May 1983 interview with Ebony, she said: "It's a dumb song and I didn't want to sing it. But it was a hit, just like [her recent Top Ten hit] 'Heartbreaker' is. I'm happy these songs were successful, but that still doesn't change my opinion about them." Though she still does not like it, the song remains one of Warwick's most popular chart selections, and she still includes it in almost every concert she performs. ==Awards==

In 1969, Warwick won her first Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, for "Do You Know the Way to San Jose". She told Jet in May 2002; "that winning this award was the overall highlight of her career". Warwick was only the second black female artist to win in the category after jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and the first artist of the contemporary pop era to win in that category. Her historic win paved the way for contemporary black pop artists such as Roberta Flack, Tina Turner and Warwick's kid cousin Whitney Houston, who later won the award with their respective releases. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Cover versions==

• Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984) • Sandi Griffiths and Sally Flynn, performing as Sandi and Sally, sang this song twice, once in 1968 and in 1969 on the Lawrence Welk Show. ==References==