Regardless of who originally made it popular, any hit song becomes a challenge to the ingenuity and imagination of other musicians and performers.

Koch recalled that Baxter composed orchestrated and recorded the entire score of The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) in a total of three hours for $5000. [citation needed] Baxter also wrote the "Whistle" theme from the TV show Lassie. "
Les Baxter has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6314 Hollywood Blvd.