“You Are My Sunshine,” the country standard that Jimmie Davis made famous in 1940, is officially credited to Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell. They registered the copyright in 1940, but the question of who really wrote the song is much more complicated. Davis bought the song from Paul Rice. Paul Rice said he wrote it in 1937, and Oliver Hood’s family says Hood was singing it by 1933.
The credit on the sheet music and the person who first wrote the words can be two different people. Because of that, “who wrote it” has a legal answer, and it also has a historical answer that is still argued over.
Who is credited with writing “You Are My Sunshine”?
Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell are the credited songwriters of “You Are My Sunshine.” Davis published it with the Southern Music Publishing Company of New York on January 30, 1940, crediting “words and music by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell.” Both names were also on the 1967 copyright renewal.
How the two men got the song is not a secret. Paul Rice and his brother Hoke sold the song to Davis and Mitchell shortly before 1940, and the buyers put their own names on it. Writing in Chronicles magazine in November 1990, Theodore Pappas called this “a practice not uncommon in the pre-World War II music business” and argued that Davis never claimed authorship because he had bought the song. Davis, who lived to 101, gave conflicting accounts over the years. In a 1975 interview for Dorothy Horstman’s book Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, he did not claim to have written it and instead told the song’s history.
The three authorship claims, side by side
There are three main claims to “You Are My Sunshine.” Paul Rice himself once said that at least 20 people had claimed to have written it.
- Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell (official credit). They hold the 1940 copyright and publishing credit. Davis was a country singer who later became governor of Louisiana, and he made the song his signature.
- Paul Rice (seller of the song). Rice said he wrote the song in 1937, inspired by a long letter from a woman in South Carolina. According to the Shreveport Times, Rice needed cash for his wife’s hospital bills and sold the song to Davis and Mitchell for $35.
- Oliver Hood (family claim). Descendants and associates of Robert Oliver Hood, a LaGrange musician who played with Rice in the early 1930s, say Hood wrote the song in the early 1930s and first performed it in 1933 at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in LaGrange, Georgia.
The case for Oliver Hood
The case for Oliver Hood rests on memories in his hometown and on family evidence, not on a copyright filing. People in LaGrange recalled hearing the song long before 1937, including a mid-1930s performance by Riley Puckett. They also remembered the musician both Puckett and Paul Rice played with in the early 1930s: Oliver Hood.
According to Hood’s family, his children kept a brown paper sack with the original lyrics written on the back. The claim reached print in November 1990, when Theodore Pappas wrote in Chronicles that Oliver Hood was the song’s original writer.
The ending is bittersweet. After the song became an American hit in 1940, Hood started copyrighting his music. In 1957 he wrote and copyrighted a sequel, “Somebody Stole My Sunshine Away.” He died in March 1959 without ever being credited for “You Are My Sunshine.”
What can’t be proved is the most important point. Hood never had a dated copyright or a recording from before 1939, so his authorship remains a strong claim, not a settled fact.
Who recorded “You Are My Sunshine” first?
The Pine Ridge Boys recorded “You Are My Sunshine” first. They cut it for Bluebird Records, RCA-Victor’s budget label, on August 22, 1939. The duo, Marvin Taylor and Doug Spivey, recorded it in Atlanta, and Bluebird released it on October 6, 1939. The second recording was made for Decca Records on September 13, 1939, by the Rice Brothers Gang.
The Rice Brothers’ record matters for the authorship debate. The Pine Ridge Boys release did not name a songwriter, but the Rice Brothers’ Gang gave credit to Paul Rice, which supported his claim. The group came from north Georgia but had moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where they played on radio station KWKH. That’s how the song reached Davis. The Shreveport Times later reported that Davis and Mitchell called KWKH to find Paul Rice, who was playing there.
Davis’s own version was recorded for Decca Records on February 5, 1940. That 1940 recording is the one that made the song a standard.
| Song | Written by (official credit) | Year copyrighted | First recorded by | Best-known early version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| “You Are My Sunshine” | Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell (claimed by Paul Rice and Oliver Hood) | 1940 | The Pine Ridge Boys (Aug. 22, 1939) | Jimmie Davis (recorded Feb. 5, 1940) |
“You Are My Sunshine” timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1933 | Oliver Hood’s family says he performed the song at a VFW event in LaGrange, Georgia |
| 1937 | The year Paul Rice said he wrote the song |
| 1939 (Aug. 22) | The Pine Ridge Boys make the first recording, for Bluebird |
| 1939 (Sept. 13) | The Rice Brothers Gang record it for Decca, credited to Paul Rice |
| Late 1939 | Davis and Mitchell buy the rights from Rice for $35 |
| 1940 (Jan. 30) | Davis publishes it under his and Mitchell’s names |
| 1940 (Feb. 5) | Jimmie Davis records his hit version for Decca |
| 1959 | Oliver Hood dies without official credit |
How Jimmie Davis made the song famous
Jimmie Davis made “You Are My Sunshine” famous on records and then in politics. His February 1940 recording is the one most country fans remember, and it was among the top five country recordings of that year. After that, Bing Crosby and Gene Autry recorded their own versions, which helped turn the song into a big hit.
Davis served two terms as governor of Louisiana, from 1944 to 1948 and from 1960 to 1964, and he built his public image around the song. Even his palomino mare was named Sunshine. The connection stuck: in 1977 the Legislature made it one of Louisiana’s official state songs, sharing the honor with “Give Me Louisiana.” A 1977 biography by Gus Weill, who had worked on Davis’s 1959 campaign, was even called You Are My Sunshine: The Jimmie Davis Story.
The song went far beyond country music. By 2000, BMI counted more than 350 artists who had recorded it, and the song had been translated into 30 languages. Ray Charles took his version to No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1962, and Johnny Cash recorded a well-known version in 1989. A new generation heard it in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Why is “You Are My Sunshine” so sad?
“You Are My Sunshine” is sad because only the chorus is cheerful. The full song is about losing love. The 1940 lyrics are still under copyright, so here is a paraphrase. In the chorus, the singer tells a loved one how much happiness they bring and begs them not to leave.
The verses that most people never learn are darker. The singer wakes from a dream of holding the loved one and finds they were wrong, then cries. Later the singer warns that if the loved one leaves for someone else, they will regret it someday. Sung slowly at bedtime, it sounds like a lullaby. Read all the way through, it’s a plea from someone being left behind.
Common mix-ups about who wrote it
- Singer vs. writer. Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and other stars recorded famous versions, but none of them wrote the song.
- Davis as “composer.” Davis owned and published the song and is the legal co-writer. The historical record shows he bought it rather than wrote it.
- Charles Mitchell’s role. Mitchell is co-credited because he was Davis’s partner in buying the song. The two men split the cost, so each paid $17.50.
- “First” version. Davis did not record the song first. The Pine Ridge Boys and the Rice Brothers Gang both recorded it in 1939, months before he did.
FAQ
– When was “You Are My Sunshine” first written?
Nobody knows exactly when “You Are My Sunshine” was first written. Oliver Hood’s family dates it to 1933 or earlier, and Paul Rice said he wrote it in 1937. It was first recorded in August 1939 and copyrighted in 1940.
– Who sang the original “You Are My Sunshine”?
The Pine Ridge Boys, the duo of Marvin Taylor and Doug Spivey, recorded the original version of “You Are My Sunshine” on August 22, 1939. The Rice Brothers Gang recorded it next, in September 1939. Jimmie Davis’s 1940 version is the one that became a hit.
– Is “You Are My Sunshine” in the public domain?
No. “You Are My Sunshine” is not in the public domain, because its 1940 copyright still runs. Copyright for works from 1940 generally lasts 95 years, so the song would enter the public domain in the US around the start of 2036. Check with the copyright holder or a lawyer before using it in a commercial project.
– Did Jimmie Davis ever claim he wrote “You Are My Sunshine”?
Davis gave conflicting accounts over his long life, but in a 1975 interview for the book Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy he did not claim to have written “You Are My Sunshine” and instead told its history. Paul Rice said he composed it in 1937. Davis’s name is on the song because he and Mitchell bought it.
– Is “You Are My Sunshine” the Louisiana state song?
Yes, “You Are My Sunshine” is one of Louisiana’s official state songs. It got that status because of Jimmie Davis, the singer who made it famous and served two terms as governor.