Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Songs I Love: Gearing Up For Long Haul Home?


Song By Bud Green, Les Brown and Ben Homer (1944). Sung by The Platters.

Gonna take a sentimental journey,
Gonna set my heart at ease.
Gonna make a sentimental  journey,
To renew old memories.

Got my bags, I got my reservations,
Spent each dime I could afford.
Like a child in wild anticipation,
Long to hear that, "All aboard!"

Seven... that's the time we leave at seven.
I'll be waitin' up at heaven,
Countin' every mile of *railroad track,
That takes me back.

Never thought my heart could be so yearny.
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental  journey,
Sentimental journey home (repeat).


*Lyrics can be meaningful to Singaporeans who have been away for some time and who long to come home permanently, substituting 'railroad track' to 'plane trip pack'.

Song has been covered by Les Brown and His Band of Renown, with Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Ames Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Ralph Materie, Ringo Starr, Booker T. n the M.G.s, Barry Manilow .                                                  

5 comments:

  1. Uploaded by ILoveJenni47 on Jul 5, 2009:

    Released on the 1963 album, "Moonlight Memories".

    Although Tony Williams had left the Platters by this time, the master of this recording was sent to him and he overdubbed the lead vocal to create a new Platters recording with his lead.

    He did this for several tracks on the album. This song was a hit for Les Brown and Doris Day in 1945.

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  2. One of the first few songs I learnt as a youth, 'Sentimental Journey' by Doris Day caught my ears way back in the 50s when I heard it over my father's PYE radio.

    It was played so often and the melody so beautiful the lyrics just stayed in my head up till today.

    According to Wikipedia its "release coincided with the end of WWII in Europe and became the unofficial homecoming theme for many veterans."

    The recording was released by Columbia Records with the flip side 'Twilight Time' another evergreen.

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  3. My uncle was a WWII vet. He never forgot this song because he remembers it being the song that welcomed him and the rest of the troops home. He died at age 87(edited).

    February 2012

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  4. Dayniac43244.7.12

    What a beautiful memory... thank you for sharing it. Doris said when this came out, they all got so many letters expressing how much the song meant to soldiers and their families.

    I know it was and is a special song to many. Thank you.

    Dayniac4324 in reply to airdr above.

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  5. I guess the song will be meaningful to Singaporeans who have been away for years and who now yearn to come home.

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