What’s it all About?
“You Are My Sunshine” is a song about the sorrow of losing a lover. It first became a hit for early country artist Jimmie Davis and his collaborator, Charles Mitchell, in 1940. It was one of the first songs that combined the sounds of earlier stringband music of the 1920s and 30s, also called “hillbilly” music, with sounds that were developing into what we call popular country music now. It has been covered by many artists representing many different genres since then.
References:
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/YouAreMySunshine.pdf