YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE (1937)

“You are My Sunshine” is widely considered the third best-known song in the world, right after “Happy Birthday” and “White Christmas”. It is less well known that the song may have been “stolen” from its actual composer.

The familiar version of the song’s early history is as follows. The Pine Ridge Boys, who did not claim to have written the song, first recorded it in August of 1939. The Rice Brothers Gang recorded it again in September 1939 and Paul Rice did claim to have written the song in 1937. "Where I got the idea for it," he said, "a girl over in South Carolina wrote me this long letter, about 17 pages. And she was talking about I was her sunshine, and I got the idea for the song and put a tune to it."

Late in 1939 Jimmie Davis, a popular country music singer who later became Governor of Louisiana, purchased the song from Rice, the acknowledged composer of the song, for $35. The Rice Brothers’ bass player, Reggie Ward, when interviewed by a newspaper reporter in 1956, reported that “they asked me to sign as a witness the typed document transferring all rights to Davis and Mitchell.” Purchasing songs from other composers and publishing them under one’s own name was a common practice pre-World War II. Davis published the song in 1940 with “ words and music by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell”, who was a long-time collaborator of Davis. Davis recorded the song in February of that year, and that brought it to the attention of country music fans. It placed among the top five country music recordings in 1940 and became a major financial and political success for Davis. He used “You are My Sunshine” as a campaign song, singing it at all his political rallies when he ran for governor, and in 1977 it was designated a Louisiana state song.

Although Louisiana claimed it, the song’s birthplace actually may have been Georgia. Davis and Mitchell generally receive the credit for having written “You are My Sunshine”, but there are people in Georgia who recall hearing the song before 1937. In particular, they recall hearing George Riley Puckett, a well-known country music pioneer from Georgia, performing the song in the early 1930s and also recall that there was a musician who played both with him and Paul Rice: Oliver Hood of LaGrange, Georgia. Oliver Hood was a quiet, self-taught musician and music teacher who wrote many songs, but did not think of them as having commercial potential, much less copyrighting them. Hood’s descendants claim that he wrote the words to “You are My Sunshine” on a brown paper sack that they still possess and that he first performed the song at a VFW convention in LaGrange in 1933. After “You are My Sunshine” rose to the top of the music charts, Hood began copyrighting his songs, but none achieved the popularity and financial success of that song. Until his death in 1959 he considered the song to have been stolen from him. Professor Wayne W. Daniel of Georgia State University, who extensively researched the history of American country music, wrote in Pickin’ on Peachtree: A History of Country Music in Atlanta, Georgia (University of Illinois Press, 1990): "Mr. Hood was a musician and music teacher widely known in the west Georgia area. Surviving family members and musical associates are adamant in their assertion that Mr. Hood wrote the song.” He further states: "So like some of the words ascribed to Shakespeare, the authorship of ‘You Are My Sunshine’ will probably never be decided to everyone’s satisfaction."

Just as controversy didn’t hurt Shakespeare’s popularity, it hasn’t hurt “You are My Sunshine” either. After Bing Crosby and Gene Autry both recorded the song in 1941, its place was ensured as part of the traditional country music and jazz repertoire. Since then, it has been recorded by blues, soul and rock ‘n roll artists as well, and featured in numerous films, television and radio shows and commercials. It even has served as the anthem for a number of sports teams.

You are My Sunshine
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me to love another,
You'll regret it all some day:
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
You told me once, dear, you really loved me
and no one else could come between.
But now you've left me and love another;
you have shattered all my dreams:
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.