Week 3: You are my Sunshine

"You are my Sunshine" was one of the few songs on the syllabus that I had actually recognized and heard prior to starting this class. I had only been exposed to the chorus though, and had no idea of the other lyrics framing the song. When I first heard the chorus, it was sung by a woman in a somber and slow pace and it had very little instrumentation. A vision came to mind of a mother scared of losing her child due to war or sickness. However, after listening to the lyrics of the full version it was very hard for me to continue applying my old vision.

Jimmie Davis was born in north Louisiana to a pair of incredibly poor sharecroppers. He eventually grew up to become a successful country/gospel musician and 2 term governor of Louisiana. He recorded "You are my Sunshine" in 1939 and it became a national sensation. Despite the fact that he is most associated with the song, he has never actually claimed to have written it. Sources say that 2 versions of "You are my Sunshine" existed before Jimmie Davis, however Davis's incredibly successful career has eclipsed those renditions entirely. Davis was considered a singer of country music as well as gospel music. I find this very interesting due to the fact that "You are my Sunshine" has obvious gospel roots in its intonation and phrasing. Davis seems to have bridged a kind of gap between audiences of country music and gospel music. Perhaps his position as a charismatic white man made his delivery of gospel music easier to digest. I believe he incorporated music into his campaign as a way of relating and connecting with people of different backgrounds.

Ollie Gilbert's version of the song is much more raw and less commercially friendly that the Davis version. I personally prefer versions of the song that are more stripped down and less happy sounding. There's a mismatch in my head when listening to cheerful instrumentation of the song coupled with the depressing lyrics. I personally believe a somber or subdued version of the song makes it much more impactful. With regard to my project, I tried to envision outside the box of what the song lyrics immediately bring to mind. At first listen to the lyrics, it's obvious that the song is about a romantic relationship where one partner fears the other partner leaving and gradually deals with the reality that their fears came true. However, when I tried thinking about the kind of devotion and unconditional love that would fear the betrayal of a partner, I thought of the love a pet has for its master instead. I thought of all the dogs that are adopted and abandoned each year because they grew up and were either no longer cute or too much of a hassle to properly take care of. The image touched me, so I decided to depict a scene of abandonment and betrayal using a screenshot of an anti-animal abuse ad that I thought fit the song very well.