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In rapid succession came the news of Pearl Harbor and the birth of Les
and Claire’s second child, a daughter, Denise. And as happy as Les was
about his expanding family, he was distressed by his diminishing band, as
members left to fight in the war. Les’ brother Warren, who played
trombone in the band, left to join the Navy, and their first trumpet
player joined him. Many of the others were drafted. It wasn’t easy, but
Les continued to find new musicians to replace them, and he kept the band
alive.
 In 1943, Doris Day had divorced her husband, and Les persuaded her to
return to the band by paying her extra so that she could bring her son on
the road with her, as well as her mother to care for him." They
played all over New York and the East Coast, at the Paramount, The
Capitol, The Strand, The Chicago Theater, and other venues.
In 1944 Les got a call from Ben Homer, who said he had a tune he was
working on that Les should hear. They got together, and Les listened to
the melody. "I liked it right away," he recalled. "It was
simple, but it had promise." Les changed the rhythm of the verse
slightly to make it more singable, added a bridge section, and within a
half hour the tune was complete. He got it to his publisher, Edwin
"Buddy" Morris, who allowed three lyricists to have a crack at
it before he got a lyric he approved of. The accepted lyric, written by
Bud Green, (who wrote "Flatfoot Floosie With The Floy Floy") was
based on the title of a book that Buddy Morris had been reading, Sentimental
Journey.
"Buddy was reading a travel book written by an Englishman,"
Les said, "and it was called Sentimental Journey, about this guy
going all over Europe. He mentioned the inns he was staying in. Buddy liked
the the title of the book and suggested it for the song, and Bud Green
wrote a nice lyric. He even had to make up a word to rhyme with ‘journey:’
‘Never though my heart would be so yearny…’"
Les wasn’t able to record the song for two years, however, due to a
recording ban imposed during the war. It was completely a twist of fate
that linked up this song with the end of the war. As soon as the recording
ban was lifted, Les and the band recorded ‘Sentimental Journey’ with a
great vocal by Doris Day, and it became the perfect theme song for all of
the young men returning home from the war. It became the record that shot
the band to the top. The Number One song in the country for some sixteen
weeks, ‘Sentimental Journey,’ stayed on the Hit Parade for months, and
has since become an undeniable standard in the lexicon of the American
popular song.
It was the hit Les had been waiting for, and now that he had it, he was
ready for more. The song not only made the band famous, it made Doris Day
a star, and life for everyone got better. "Having the Number One song
for all those months certainly helped us. It helped business, it helped
our reputation, we got to do more recordings. And sell more records. It
put us over the top."
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"Having the Number One song
for all those months certainly helped us. It helped business, it helped
our reputation, we got to do more recordings. And sell more records. It
put us over the top."
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