Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell made “You Are My Sunshine” famous in 1939. Given that Davis, a country music artist who served as Louisiana’s governor from 1944 to 1948 and again from 1960 to 1964, is associated with the song, it has been designated as one of the state songs of Louisiana. The song has been covered several times; in fact, it has been recorded so many times that it is considered to be “one of the most commercially programmed numbers in American popular music.” The song’s original country music style has “virtually lost” its style, and it “represent[s] both the national flowering of country music and its eventual blending into the mainstream of American popular culture.”
Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Mississippi John Hurt, Wayne King, and Lawrence Welk all performed it in 1941. The renditions by Autry, Crosby, and King made it to the era’s US charts. The Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin, Anne Murray (1979), Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Norman Blake, Brian Wilson, Mouse and the Traps, Gene Vincent, Jamey Johnson, Low, Mose Allison, Bryan Ferry, Carly Simon, Yusuf Islam, Copeland, Johnny and the Hunna later covered it. It was also covered by Nat King Cole (1955), The Marcels (1961), Ray Charles (1962), Ike & Tina Turner, The Rivington
On March 21, 2013, the Davis version from 1940 was entered into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress for long-term preservation. Virginia Shehee, a longtime friend of the Davis family and a senator for Louisiana from 1976 to 1980, proposed legislation to declare “You Are My Sunshine” the official anthem.
Lyrics
Verse 1
The other night dear, As i lay sleeping
I dreamed i held you in my arms
But when i woke, dear, i was mistaken
So i bowed my head and i cryed
Verse 2
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You’ll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don’t take
My sunshine away
Verse 3
I’ll always love you and make you happy,
If you only say the same but
If you leave me to love another
You’ll regret it allsome day
Verse 4
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You’ll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don’t take
My sunshine away
Verse 4
You told me once, dear, you really loveed me
And no one els could come between
But now you’ve left me to love another
You have shattered all of my dreams
Verse 5
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You’ll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don’t take
My sunshine away
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