You are my Sunshine

You Are My Sunshine is a song popularized by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell in 1939. It has been declared one of the state songs of Louisiana because of its association with Davis, a country music singer and governor of the state in the years 1944-1948 and 1960-1964.

Two versions of You Are My Sunshine were recorded and released in 1939 prior to Jimmie Davis’ version. The first was recorded for Bluebird Records (RCA-Victor’s budget label) on August 22, 1939, by The Pine Ridge Boys (Marvin Taylor and Doug Spivey), who were from Atlanta. The second was recorded for Decca Records on September 13, 1939, by The Rice Brothers Gang. This group was originally from north Georgia but relocated to Shreveport, where they were performing on the radio station KWKH. The version by Jimmie Davis was recorded for Decca Records on February 5, 1940.

While Davis and Mitchell are the credited songwriters of You Are My Sunshine, Davis was never known actually to claim authorship, as he bought the song and rights from Paul Rice and put his own name on it, a practice not uncommon in the pre-World War II music business, though some early versions of the song credit it to the Rice Brothers. Descendants and associates of Oliver Hood, a LaGrange, Georgia, musician who collaborated with Rice, state that Hood wrote the song in the early 1930s and first performed it at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention at LaGrange, Georgia, in 1933.