You Are My Sunshine

The Pine Ridge Boys (Marv Taylor and Doug Spivey) recorded the song under the title "You Are My Sunshine" on August 22, 1939, and released it on October 6, 1939, for Bluebird Records. The song was recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Pine Ridge Boys were from. No songwriter was listed. The Rice Brothers' Gang recorded the song next for Decca, on September 13, 1939, and released it the following month. This group was originally from Northern Georgia but relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana, where they performed on radio station KWKH. The songwriter was listed as "Paul Rice". Paul and Hoke Rice sold the music to Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell shortly before 1940. The pair recorded the song on February 5, 1940, at Decca Studios in New York. Both received song-writing credit and when the copyright was renewed on February 2, 1967, both of their names were on it. Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. is still run by the Peer Family, though BMI now lists it under American Performing Rights Society, Inc., also known by its acronym, APRS, c/o Peermusic. Claims of ownership According to a November 1990 article by Theodore Pappas, in Chronicles Magazine, the true writer of the song was Oliver Hood of LaGrange, Georgia. The name of the article is "The Theft of an American Classic". He asserts that Davis never actually claimed authorship because he bought the song, along with all the rights, from Paul Rice before copyrighting and publishing—a practice not uncommon in the pre-World War II music business. Paul Rice said, "I wrote 'You Are My Sunshine' in 1937. Where I got the idea for it, a girl over in South Carolina wrote me this long letter—it was long about seventeen pages. And she was talking about how I was her sunshine. I got the idea for the song and put a tune to it." According to Rice, "At least 20 people claimed to have written 'You Are My Sunshine'. I had a gal write me from California that she wrote it." he didn't claim authorship of the song, but instead relayed its history. Tony Russell states, "Though Mitchell's name appears on the copyright listing, he had already sold his half-share to Davis." == Chart performance ==

"You Are My Sunshine" was one of Jimmie Davis' biggest-selling records (one source claims it was "among the top five country music recordings of that year"), Perhaps thanks to the popularity of the Davis and Atcher versions, the original 1939 recording by The Pine Ridge Boys peaked at number 4 on October 26, 1940. Wayne King and his Orchestra recorded the first version to hit the popular music chart on September 4, and reached number 19 on November 9, 1940. On March 14, 1941, the Gene Autry movie Back in the Saddle debuted with Autry singing "You Are My Sunshine" along with his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again". On June 18, he recorded "You Are My Sunshine" at CBS Columbia Square Studio, Hollywood, California, and it was released July 10 on Okeh Records. On , Bing Crosby recorded his version at Decca Recording Studios, New York City, also released in July. Both recordings made the National Best-Selling Charts, where he remained for over 20 weeks into January 1942. Autry's version remained on the chart for much of 1942, finally bowing out after 50 weeks. In January 1951, Columbia released a version of "You Are My Sunshine" by Doris Day as a singer and polka musician Frankie Yankovic. It was assessed by Billboard as "good" but did not make it onto the charts. In 1962, a version by Ray Charles, with the Raelettes and Margie Hendrix, reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and number 7 on its Hot 100 chart. ==Appearances==

In the 1997 The Simpsons episode "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", Marge Simpson sends a recording of herself singing "You Are My Sunshine" to her daughter Lisa, who is homesick while enrolled in a military school. Sam Scott of Looper called it "one of the most powerful moments of melancholy beauty in a series that got them down to an art form." In March 2020, British choirmaster Gareth Malone announced a new initiative titled the Great British Home Chorus, a new home choir for people internationally while everyone was stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the finale, Malone orchestrated a choral version of "You Are My Sunshine", with over 11,000 singers taking part, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. The song was released as a charity single, with all the profits being donated to NHS Charities Together. == Recognition ==

After Davis' second term as governor, his admirers were disappointed when Gov. John McKeithen vetoed a bill in 1968 that would have made "You Are My Sunshine" Louisiana's official song. The reason was that the song said not a word about Louisiana. Virginia Shehee, a long-time Davis family friend and member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1976 to 1980, re-introduced legislation to make "You Are My Sunshine" the official state song. In 1977, the Legislature decreed that "You Are My Sunshine" would share honors as the state song with "Give Me Louisiana" by Doralice Fontane. As the millennium drew near, Hall of Fame organizations started drawing up lists to honor the best music of the 20th century. On September 2, 1992, Country America magazine designated "You Are My Sunshine" 35th on its Top 100 Country Songs of All-Time list. Next, it was among the pre-1950 records selected to join the Grammy Hall of Fame on February 24, 1999. On June 17, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the new Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville, and the event included a guitar marching band, led by Chet Atkins, playing "Wildwood Flower" and "You Are My Sunshine". In 2000, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame chose Davis' version of "You Are My Sunshine" to receive its Towering Song Award. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) published their list of the top 365 "Songs Of The Century" on March 7, 2001, and "You Are My Sunshine" placed #14. The Country Music Foundation published "Heartaches By The Number" celebrating country's "500 greatest singles" on March 14, 2003, with "You Are My Sunshine" by Jimmie Davis on the list. On June 8, 2003, it ranked #73 on CMT's "100 Greatest Songs of Country Music". On March 21, 2013, the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress added it for long-term preservation. The song became associated with a viral internet meme in 2024, after it was part of a video featuring NBA player LeBron James, in which Christina Perri's cover of the song is played over a portrait photo of LeBron, intended to mock obsessive and defensive fans of LeBron, framing him as their sunshine. It is unclear who first created the video. As a result, the meme became an influence for other similar memes, such as "LeEvil James", an evil counterpart using a portrait of LeEvil accompanied with a slowed down version of Perri's cover. Fans also began spamming comments on social media posts regarding James, posting lyrics of the song, and calling him "honey", "glorious king", "goat", "pookie bear" and "dad". The song is popularly associated with animatronics, especially flowers. One such flower appeared in the finale of the third season of The L Word, when Dana dies, and Alice—who bought the flower for Dana—collapses to the ground in tears as the flower sings its song over the closing credits. == References ==