"Sentimental Journey"

#588 / Flood Time Capsule: 2023

So, you’ve got your sentimental songs. And you’ve got your train songs. And when you’ve got a sentimental song about trains, it’s gotta be a winner.

That was certainly the thinking back in 1944 when Les Brown’s new “chick singer” — Cincinnati’s own Doris Day — recorded “Sentimental Journey,” which Les had just written with Ben Homer and Bud Green.

The song became Doris’s first hit record. The timing certainly didn’t hurt either. Its release coincided with the end of World War II in Europe, so the tune became the unofficial homecoming theme for many a returning GI.

Flood Fancy

The Flood’s interest in the song dates back more than a dozen years now, to one particular autumn evening as the Family Flood was wrapping up its weekly rehearsal.

On the spur of the moment, our own “chick singer,” Michelle Hoge, suggested we try “Sentimental Journey,” noting that Flood fiddler Joe Dobbs had lately been doing it as an instrumental in his solo performances around the area. Always game for a challenge, the guys take a swing at it.

Unfortunately, this happened to be the beginning of Joe’s last few years and his appearances at the weekly practices were becoming more erratic.

Consequently, the song went into the background, but not before it also prompted Michelle that very same evening to share a not-so-sentimental travel-related joke:

The Post-Joe Journey

Anyway, “Sentimental Journey” didn’t rambled back into the Floodisphere until a few years after Joe’s death, this time as a silly sing-along (complete with Michelle’s patient schooling of the listeners on their part).

The occasion was nine years ago this week as the Floodsters were preparing for their first show at Route 60 Music Co. It was an event that later that year would inspire the launch of the good ol’ “Route 60 Saturday Night” music variety series.

From then on, the Floodified “Sentimental Journey” was available whenever the band wanted some kitschy audience participation.

Ba-ba-ba BAH

Here’s an example from half dozen years later. On this particular evening, Michelle and her husband Rich traveled in from their home near Cincinnati so she could join old band mates for a show at the late, great Sal’s Speakeasy in Ashland, Ky. Click the Play button below for Pamela Bowen’s video from that night:

Finally, if you’d like a little more from that particularly fun evening at Sal’s, click here for Pamela’s video report from her ringside table.