You Are My Sunshine Lyrics

“You Are My Sunshine” Lyrics 

“You Are My Sunshine” is a song, written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell which was published in 1939. Although, the song had been written in 1930 but there are a lot of debates about who originally wrote it. Oliver Hood, a LaGrange, Georgia musician claimed that he is the writer of the song and first sang this song in 1933 at a Veterans of Foreign Wars conference at LaGrange, Georgia. In 1937 the song “You Are My Sunshine” had been copyrighted by Paul Rice, a colleague of Oliver Hood. In 1939, Paul Rice sold the song and rights to Jimmy Davis, then he put his own name on it, that was a common practice in the music business of that time (pre-World War II).  

In 1940, Jimmy Davis had recorded the song “You Are My Sunshine” which became popular and sold over 1,000,000 copies only in the United States. King George VI is said to had declared it his favorite song. The song “You Are My Sunshine” was recorded in many other versions including Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Wayne King who had recorded the song in 1941 and the versions became big hits and the song reached the US chart of the day.

Jimmy Davis, a well-known American politician, songwriter and singer, had been elected as the governor of Louisiana from 1944-1948 and 1960-1964. He sometimes sang the song “You Are My Sunshine” all his campaign rallies as a campaign theme song when he used to ride a horse called “Sunshine”.

The song “You Are My Sunshine” had been used in many movies like “Take Me Back to Oklahoma (1940)”, “Strictly in the Groove (1942)”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)”, “Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975)”. The supporters of Wigan Athletic Football Club used the song “You Are My Sunshine” as an anthem.  

The song “You Are My Sunshine” is one of the most frequently recorded songs in American popular music. The song “You Are My Sunshine” which was recorded by Jimmy Davis (1940) was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for long-term preservation, on 21 March 2013. 

“You Are My Sunshine” Lyrics 

The other night dear,

As I lay sleeping 

I dreamed I held you

In my arms 

But 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 gray 

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 

And love another, 

You'll regret it all some day 

 

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 

 

You told me once, 

Dear, you really loved me 

And no one else could come between. 

But not you've left me 

And love another; 

You have shattered 

All of my dreams: 

 

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 

 

In all my dreams,

Dear, you seem to leave me 

When I awake

My poor heart pains. 

So when you come back 

And make me happy 

I'll forgive you dear,

I'll take all the blame. 

 

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