"Sentimental Journey" is a popular song, published in 1944. The music was written by Les Brown and

Ben Homer Ben Homer (born Benjamin Hozer, 27 June 1917, Meriden, Connecticut – 12 February 1975, Los Angeles, California) was an American songwriter, composer and arranger. Biography He joined the Meriden Symphony Orchestra when he was eleven years old ...

, and the lyrics were written by

Bud Green Bud Green (19 November 1897 – 2 January 1981) was an American lyricist especially of Broadway musicals and show tunes Early life and family Green was born Moses David Green in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and immigrated to the United Sta ...

History

Les Brown and His Band of Renown Lester Raymond Brown (March 14, 1912 – January 4, 2001) was an American jazz musician who led the big band Les Brown and His Band of Renown for nearly seven decades from 1938 to 2000. Biography Brown was born in Reinerton, Pennsylvania. He en ...

had been performing the song, but were unable to record it because of the 1942–44 musicians' strike. When the strike ended, the band, with

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

as vocalist, recorded the song for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

on November 20, 1944, and they had a hit record with the song, Doris Day's first #1 hit, in 1945. The song's release coincided with the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in Europe and became the unofficial homecoming theme for many veterans. The recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 36769, with the flip side " Twilight Time". The record first reached the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' charts on March 29, 1945, and lasted 23 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1. The song actually reached the charts after the later-recorded "

My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" is a 1945 popular song. The music was written by Vic Mizzy and the lyrics by Manny Curtis. The song was published in 1944 and was introduced in the 1944 film ''In Society'' by Marion Hutton. Notable re ...

". About this same time, the

Merry Macs The Merry Macs were an American close-harmony pop music quartet active from the 1920s till the 1960s and best known for the hits "Mairzy Doats", "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" and " Sentimental Journey". The group also sang on recordings ...

had a recording following Brown and Day which featured a bouncy arrangement where the group modulates (or augments) the verse eight times in the last half of the song – a vocal feat for any group attempting to record a song in one take without the benefit of tape editing in that era of modern recording. The song later became something of a standard with jazz artists and was recorded by, among others,

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...

with

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

and by

Ben Sidran Ben Hirsh Sidran (born August 14, 1943) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer and ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

recorded his version of the song in 1961.

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", ...

issued an album '' Sentimental Journey'' (2001) which included the song.

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

recorded a version in 1965 on his album ''New Versions of Down Beat Favorites'' (

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

E-4265).

Lyrics

The song describes someone about to take a train to a place to which they have a great emotional attachment and their mounting anticipation while wondering why they ever roamed away. The opening verse is: Gonna take a sentimental journey Gonna set my heart at ease Gonna make a sentimental journey To renew old memories.

Cover versions

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

recorded it in 1945.

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

reissued on Sentimental Journey - Capitol's Great Ladies of Song (Vol. 2) 1992 *

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

recorded a rock & roll version for his 1959 album Conway Twitty Sings on

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

. * Paul Fenoulhet with The Skyrockets Dance Orchestra Voc.: Cyril Shane. Recorded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on October 10, 1945. It was released by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

on the

HMV Records His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

label as catalogue number BD 5908 *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

recorded this song with

Eddie Heywood Edward Heywood Jr. (December 4, 1915 – January 3, 1989) was an American jazz pianist particularly active in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Heywood was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. His father, Eddie Heywood Sr., was also a jazz m ...

and his Orchestra in 1947, it was later released on her

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

album "Ella and Her Fellas" * In 1951, Brown's orchestra redid the song, with

The Ames Brothers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

on vocals. This was released by

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head o ...

as catalog number 60566, with the flip side "

Undecided "Undecided" is a popular song written by Sid Robin and Charlie Shavers and published in 1938. Recordings *The first recording was made by John Kirby and The Onyx Club Boys on October 28, 1938, and released by Decca Records as catalog number 22 ...

". *

Ralph Marterie Ralph Marterie (24 December 1914 – 10 October 1978) was an Italian big-band leader born in Acerra (near Naples), Italy. Life and career Marterie first played professionally at age 14 in Chicago. In the 1940s, he played trumpet for various ba ...

released the song as part of the album Marvelous Marterie in 1959. *

Margie Rayburn Marjorie Helen Orwig (June 3, 1924 – June 14, 2000), better known as Margie Rayburn, was an American traditional pop singer. Rayburn was born in Madera, California, United States, and sang as a member of The Sunnysiders, who had a Top 40 hit in ...

released a version of the song as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to her 1960 single "Magic Words". *

Juan García Esquivel Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002), often known mononymously as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisti ...

covered the song on ''Infinity in Sound, Vol. 2'' (April 1961, RCA Victor), replacing the vocal part with whistling. *

The String-A-Longs The String-A-Longs were an American instrumental group from Plainview, Texas, United States. The band consisted of Richard Stephens and Jimmy Torres alternating lead guitars, Keith McCormack on rhythm guitar, Aubrey de Cordova, bass guitar and Do ...

recorded an instrumental version with three guitars, bass, and drums for their 1961 debut album, "Pick A Hit", Warwick LP #2036 *

The Platters The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The ac ...

covered this song in 1963. * Booker T. & the M.G.'s recorded an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

cover of this song for their 1966 album And Now!. * Italian singer Mina released the song as part of the album ""

Dedicato a mio padre ''Dedicato a mio padre'' is an album by Italian singer Mina, released in 1967. It is the first independently produced album through her record label PDU. Track listing 1967 albums Italian-language albums Mina (Italian singer) albums

"" in 1967. *

Harpers Bizarre Harpers Bizarre was an American sunshine pop band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/sunshine pop sound and their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Career Harpers Bizarre was formed out of th ...

covered the song on the album

The Secret Life of Harpers Bizarre ''The Secret Life of Harpers Bizarre'' is an album by Harpers Bizarre, released in September 1968. Two bonus tracks were added to the 2001 Sundazed CD reissue of this title. They had previously been the two sides of a single: "Both Sides Now" ...

in 1968. *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

covered this song for his 1970 album '' Sentimental Journey''. * Japanese folk singer Shiva recorded a Japanese version of this song for his 1973 CBS/Sony album "コスモスによせる". * Dave Dudley brought the song to country music with his top-50 version in 1976. *

Nellie McKay Nell Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is a singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera'' (2006). Early life and education McKay was born in London to an English father, writer-director Malcolm McKay, and an ...

recorded her own arrangement as part of her album '' Normal as Blueberry Pie – A Tribute to Doris Day''. *

Little Willie Littlefield Willie Littlefield, Jr., billed as Little Willie Littlefield (September 16, 1931 – June 23, 2013), was an American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer whose early recordings "formed a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll". ...

recorded a version for his 1990 album ''

Singalong with Little Willie Littlefield ''Singalong with Little Willie Littlefield'' is a studio album by United States, American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Boogie-woogie pianist and vocalist Little Willie Littlefield. Content The album was recorded in 1987 at The Farmsound Studio in He ...

''. * In 1994, Les Brown and His Band of Renown teamed up to back

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

on a version of the song for Manilow's album "

Singin' with the Big Bands ''Singin' with the Big Bands'' is a 1994 album by Barry Manilow. The album was Manilow's first to reach gold since '' Because It's Christmas'' (1990). Track listing #"Singin' With The Big Bands" (Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman) 2:28 #" Sentimenta ...

". *

Sarah Harmer Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sis ...

and

Jason Euringer Jason Euringer is a Canadian musician. A guitarist/vocalist and bass player, he frequently appears on recordings by artists in the Kingston, Ontario scene, including Weeping Tile, Sarah Harmer and Luther Wright and the Wrongs. Harmer's 1999 alb ...

covered this tune on their 1999 album ""Songs for Clem"". * In 2010, Bob and Bernice Thorpe sang this song in the popular theatre show, ""Prop 8 Love Stories"" . * In 2000, Jan Jankeje Trio jazzpointrecords * In 2000/2001, singer-songwriter

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

, who was 17 years-old at the time, recorded an acoustic cover of this song, with Sam Beste on the piano. This cover of Winehouse was not known, until her father, Mitchell recovered it in June 2014. *

Lynda Carter Lynda Jean Cordova Carter (born July 24, 1951) is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World USA 1972 and finished in the top 15 at the Miss World 1972 pageant. Carter is best known as the star of th ...

covered this song for her 2011 album ''Crazy Little Things''. * In 2013,

Emmy Rossum Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress, director, and singer. She is known for her portrayal of List of Shameless (American TV series) characters#Fiona Gallagher, Fiona Gallagher in the television series ''Shame ...

covered this song in her album '' Sentimental Journey''. * George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic Incorporate the song into their huge hit "Not Just Knee Deep" when performing the song live. *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

covered the song on his 2017 album ''

Triplicate Triplicate typically refers to a document created three times simultaneously, as with carbonless copy paper. Triplicate may also refer to: *Del Norte Triplicate, a newspaper in Crescent City, California *Triplicate (horse), a race horse owned by ...

''.

In popular culture

The song features prominently in the 1978 ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...

'' episode "Your Hit Parade", as Col. Potter – citing a long-standing infatuation with Doris Day – requests the song be played over the camp P.A. system several times during the day. In the UK spot on ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...

'' Episode 3:08 with

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as " You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My M ...

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose sta ...

and

Kermit the Frog Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'', as well ...

sang the song on their way back to the show. It was the theme song of the ABC Radio program ''Sentimental Journey'' presented by John West. The song is featured in Season 2, Episode 4 of ''

The Man in the High Castle ''The Man in the High Castle'' (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the political intrigues b ...

''.

References

{{authority control 1944 songs 1945 singles Songs with music by Les Brown (bandleader) Songs with lyrics by Bud Green Ames Brothers songs Doris Day songs Ella Fitzgerald songs Little Willie Littlefield songs Margie Rayburn songs Number-one singles in the United States Songs of World War II Songs about trains Music published by MPL Music Publishing