Chords Req: You Are My Sunshine (Jimmie Davis)

Subject: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: jjzuniga
Date: 01 Dec 98 - 05:52 PM

I'm looking for the chords or tabs for You are My Sunshine. I'm searched all over the web!!! Please help!!!

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE (Jimmie Davis)
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 01 Dec 98 - 06:32 PM

Dear jjzuniga,

But is it folk music? Well, I don't know and I don't care.

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE
(Jimmie Davis & Charles Mitchell)
As recorded by Jimmie Davis with Charles Mitchell's Orchestra, 1940. (Decca 5813 A)

D
  1. The other night dear, as I lay sleeping,
              G              D
  I dreamed I held you in my arms,
              G                    D
  But when I woke, dear, I was mistaken,
                 A        D
  And I hung my head and cried.

CHORUS: 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.

2. 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 someday. CHORUS

3. You told me once, dear, you really loved me,
That no one else could come between,
But now you've left me and love another.
You have shattered all my dreams. CHORUS

Enjoy the song!

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From:
Date: 01 Dec 98 - 08:04 PM

*THE LYRICS ARE IN THE DATABASE*
along with the tune!!!

...but not the chords

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Frankham
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 07:34 PM

I believe that it is folk music. Jimmy Davis reputedly did not write the song but used it as his gubernatorial themesong to get elected in Louisiana. He is supposed to have purchased it. Some believe that it was originated in Georgia. It was recorded by the Blue Sky Boys in the 1920's.

Frank

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 08:50 PM

Thread 37133- Did Jimmie Davis really write Sunshine? has a lot of material, especially from Stewie. There is no evidence of recording before the 1930s. Sunshine

Jimmie Davis wrote some pretty good songs, but it is possible that he and Charles Mitchell (listed as co-writer) purchased "....Sunshine."

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 08:54 PM

Forgot to note- at lewast two sets of chords are in Cowpie.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 09:26 PM

We do it in G which would make the chords G,C,G,C,G,D and G.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 03 Feb 03 - 09:34 PM

I like it better, as someone suggested a few months ago in an other thread, sung in the past tense, and played in a minor key...

Creepy!

:-)

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,davidkidd.net
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 05:14 PM

"You are my Sunshine" chords: Digital sheet music says that in 1931 the orginal key was F. However cowboylyrics.com/tabs/blake-norman/you-are-my-sunshine-8002.html says Norman Blake in "O Brother Where Art Thou" sings its in F# .

And lastly guitartabs.com says just play it in G like this: intro G D7 G verse G G7 C G C G G D7 G cho G G7 C G C G G D7 G.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 11:55 PM

Just a historical note: When I was a kid in Japan, it sometimes seemed like every second Japanese girl was singing that song. Once, on a Tokyo street, there must have been 20 or 30 of them singing together. I think it was just happenstance, but impressive, nonetheless.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 12:07 PM

My 3-year old grand-daughter loves the song - so I do it for her a lot. We went to a song circle and they did it. After the song, everyone was quiet waiting for the next choice and she says, "play it again!" Shows a lot of potential, I think.
Chris

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 04:08 PM

Further to the chords question:
It looks like you can buy for $3.95 sheet music of a "You are my Sunshine" arrangement by DUANE EDDY!
from www.laurasmidi.com/cgi-bin/shmtitles.cgi?newtitle=You%20Are%20My%20Sunshine.

Also I found a midi file of an old-timer-pianee arrrangement of "You are my Sunshine" named pmn0041591.mid. But I can't remember where I found it.

You can print out the score of mid files using a free test version of "midi notate" from .

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Inükshük
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 05:06 PM

This has to be the most recognized song on the planet. My granddaughter chose it for her number in the school's talent show last year. Her first choice was something by the Spice Girls, but her dad and I couldn't provide a satisfactory background.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Mudlark
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 05:20 PM

And it's the ONLY song many older people w/dementia can remember. They will be sitting there in their wheelchairs, head sunk on chest thru all the golden oldies, including My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean, but man, everybody sings this one, everybody!

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 09:36 PM

I do this song in "C". I also like to add a very quick "G" or dominant into the first line on "lay/only" going back tonic on "sleeping/sunshine".
Does anyone else do it this way?
          Thanks,
             Obie

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,T-boy
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 08:20 AM

It's a lovely song and great fun to sing and play.

However, I am fascinated by something to do with this thread - my question is this:

If you can't work out the chords to a simple-assed three-chord ditty like this, then what exactly do you get out of playing music?

This is not meant to be as rude as it might sound, I genuinely am interested in other people's perceptions.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 07:16 PM

Actually T-boy,

I'm partly with with on this - many older simple folk style tunes work well with the I IV V7 (or even I IV V) major chord progressions, so it's often worth trying this progression. It's just that the order of the chords varies for different songs... :-) Many tunes written before the 1960's and 1970's will fit.

And then there is my theory that there are only seven folk tunes - but then I am a Low Whistle player... :-)

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Mudlark
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 10:29 PM

T-Boy...I must say, that was my first reaction as well. I'm a very low level self-taught guitarist, dont even know the letters of the strings I play, and even I can figure out the chords to this, even where to throw in a minor or 2 just for fun. I wondered if the inquirer played some sort of oddball instrument or ?????

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: songs2play
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 02:55 AM

The Mississippi John Hurt rendition (which I admit I've only recently heard) has renewed my pleasure in this song. I think it's best played in C, but the stretch of the little finger up to the fifth fret makes it easier - FOR ME - to play with the capo on the 4th fret.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Gulliver
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 03:53 PM

Why doesn't the first verse of this song rhyme? I sing "by my side" instead of "in my arms" (folk process making itself felt). I don't understand whoever wrote it (still a matter of debate) not getting this right!

Gulliver

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 04:57 PM

A well written song does not always have to rhyme in an expected pattern, but there is an internal lilt that holds the consistancy. This is very apparent in many Gaelic songs but rare in English ones.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Greg B
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 05:38 PM

Anybody else notice a familial resemblence between this song's
melody and 'This Land is Your Land?'

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 07:13 PM

Yeh, Woody borrowed from others but the others probably borrowed from others as well.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Genie
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 07:58 PM

Obie, I do the chords pretty much the same way you do.   I also throw some 7ths into the mix sometimes, as well as a minor or two, just for texture.   

(I don't have a guitar handy or I'd be more specific.)

Genie

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Rockhen
Date: 14 Nov 06 - 08:12 PM

I love this song, I remember my nanna singing it to me and I sang it to my kids when they were small...i sing it to them now to really irritate them, teenagers, lol :-)
Still has special memories for me of lovely times.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Nov 06 - 04:03 PM

It irks me slightly when this gets sung all happy clappy. In fact it's a very sad song. The poor bloke is heartbroken... (though hoping the song might do the trick after all.)

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Sooz
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 02:32 AM

I agree - it is a really sad song and gets worse as it goes on. I tend to sing just the first verse and lots of choruses but thats bad enough!

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Scrump
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:37 AM

If you can't work out the chords to a simple-assed three-chord ditty like this, then what exactly do you get out of playing music?

This is not meant to be as rude as it might sound, I genuinely am interested in other people's perceptions.

An interesting question arises from this (higher up in this thread). I expect it might have been raised before though (?) so apologies if so.

I seem to find it easy to work out chords for most songs, although I admit I've had to struggle occasionally if the song uses 'odd' chords or has an unusual structure (I haven't made this very clear but I hope it vaguely makes sense). Likewise I can play fairly well by ear, and pick up tunes quickly, e.g. I can usually play along with a tune I haven't heard, unless again it's something pretty unusual. And I expect there must be people who can do it better than me, and woulodn't struggle where I do, perhaps because they have greater musical knowledge than me and can recognise every chord by hearing it (whereas I might have to work out if its a 13th or something, by trial and error).

Yet I know people who are trained musicians and can sight read in real time better than I can, but they seem to have trouble doing this type of thing, i.e. playing by ear, and would struggle to play along with a simple tune if they don't have the music in front of them.

Is playing by ear or being able to work out chords by listening to a song, something acquired by practice (perhaps because you are untrained and have to do it), or do you think it's something you either have or don't have? Maybe trained musicians don't have the need to play by ear and haven't developed the skill (if it is a skill).

What do others think? This is just something that interests me, no axe to grind or anything.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: M.Ted
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 12:01 PM

Many people who have classical training never develop the ability to play by ear. Technically, you don't need it, because everything is on the page, and you have been taught how to render it.   It has always struck me that that approach reflects a lack of creativity and imagination.

Folk music, however you want to define it, is very different, because there is very little layed out--the player/singer has their own style and approach, which, in some instances, even changes the melody and lyrics of the song--

The deal is that for folk music, you really learn how the music works, and then apply it--the chord changes for any given style are fairly predictable, once you learn them--so it tends to be more a case of getting so familiar with a type of music that you recognize what is happening, rather than really having to work it out from scratch--

Given that, though, there are times when a tune that seems to have a straight forward chord progression turns out to be much harder to work out than you expect--

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 07:40 PM

... and Dem's de Creative Ones Ted!

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 07:44 PM

I've don't normally think consciously in terms of chord progressions as such. For me it's much more a matter of following the melody and fitting in chords that fits the main notes, from a limited number that I'll know are available in any particular key I'm playing in.

It comes to the same thing in many ways, but it's a different way of seeing things from those seem to think in terms of chord sequences as such. That's more common in jazz maybe.

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: GUEST,Angie
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 07:49 PM

"Many people who have classical training never develop the ability to play by ear. Technically, you don't need it, because everything is on the page, and you have been taught how to render it.   It has always struck me that that approach reflects a lack of creativity and imagination."

Well put, M.Ted. The learned dependency on the abstract notation of music on the page can be a real problem. I have a friend who can only learn traditional tunes from a tablature transcription, because he doesn't trust his ears. He's an excellent musician otherwise; but in this respect he holds up the need for the written page as a barrier to music that, I feel, needs first to be apprehended with the body. It's dance music.

"You Are My Sunshine" is pretty simple, but nobody's offered the chords past one of the first posters, and I'd actually disagree... here's how I play it. ( in D)

            D (I)                         A (V)       D (I)
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

                         G (IV)                         D (I)
You make me happy    when skies are grey

                     G (IV)                              D (I)
You'll never know, dear    how much I love you

                   D (I)             A (V)          D (I)
Please don't take       my sunshine away

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: M.Ted
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 08:08 PM

A lot of guitar players, at least of the folkie variety, work from chord progressions. They write from chord progressions, too. I think that's why there are so many new songs that have underdeveloped melodies--

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 08:16 PM

Better really to make up the tune and sing the song a few times before reaching for the guitar to work out an accompaniment (if you decide it needs one)..

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Gulliver
Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:08 PM

A lot of discussion about chords for a very simple song--you could hardly find simpler.

I'm still at odds about the rhyme in the first verse. I notice Boxcar Willie changed the last line to something like "still peeping through the bars"--suggesting the singer is in prison??

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: M.Ted
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 01:43 AM

I agree wholeheartedly--in fact, it seems to me that, by it's very nature, the term "accompaniment" requires that the tune be written first--

As to making it simpler, Gulliver(and for your consideration, Angie)--I have been playing the melody in C, using what is basically an Am/added 2nd chord, but is cut down to just A B and C, played in a row on the keyboard four to the measure-It is a bit edgier than this tune is usually done, but lends a bit of depth--

Subject: RE: Chords for You Are My Sunshine?
From: Scrump
Date: 17 Nov 06 - 03:16 AM

Better really to make up the tune and sing the song a few times before reaching for the guitar to work out an accompaniment (if you decide it needs one)..

Agree totally, McGrath of Harlow. If I try to use the guitar to work out a tune, it inevitably restricts the outcome (maybe that's a reflection on my limited ability, however). I prefer to think of a tune in my head first, and then work out the arrangement as a second stage.