By Amanda Black

Today is Dionne Warwick’s birthday — the soul singer turns 71 today. 

Why do I mention it? Sure she has a fantastic voice and sang some catchy ditties. I’m writing because of “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.” It got me thinking about songs with destinations in the title.   

Songs about places have always had a place in popular culture. When songs come from the heart and people sing about what they know, they often sing about where they live, love, visit or long to travel.

John Denver, of course, comes to mind. Born Henry John Deutschendorf, the singer/songwriter adopted the name of his favorite state where he lived most of his too-short life. His song “Rocky Mountain High” has been adopted as one of the state songs of Colorado for good reason.

Update: Managing Editor Dave Hoekman pointed out another John Denver song that needs to be on this list: "Take Me Home Country Roads."  Calling West Virginia "almost heaven," the song has become a rallying cry in the state and a source of pride. 

Frank Sinatra recorded a lot of iconic songs, but few have become more legendary than “New York, New York.” It’s actually called “Theme from New York, New York,” and it came from a 1977 Martin Scorsese film. In the movie, the song was performed by Liza Minnelli. Both artists had the singing chops to belt out the song of hope and swagger, so we don’t need to discuss who sang it better.

Sinatra also recorded “My Kind of Town” about Chicago. It too has roots in a movie; in this case it’s the 1964 Rat Pack film Robin and the 7 Hoods. And truly, Chicago is my kind of town, so this might be one of my favorites.

Update II: Thanks to Aaron Ogg, our intrepid staff writer, for this. He points out that today is ALSO Frank Sinatra's birthday! The Chairman of the Board was born on this date in 1915.

I asked around the office this morning, and we’ve come up with a list of some other great place songs.

How about “Oklahoma” where the wind comes whipping down the plains? Or what about “Georgia on My Mind?” Both the Willie Nelson and Ray Charles version will do.

We also brought up The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville.” I assumed the song was about Clarksville, Tenn., but that is not the case. The writer of the song, Bobby Hart, was thinking about a small town in Arizona called Clarkdale. Due to some artistic license, he thought Clarksville sounded better — and a pop classic was born.    

Which place gets your heart singing?