<Li> <P> Jimmie Davis with Charles Mitchell's Orchestra </P> </Li> <P> Jimmie Davis with Charles Mitchell's Orchestra </P> <P> While Davis and Mitchell are the credited songwriters of "You Are My Sunshine", Davis was never known to actually claim authorship, as he bought the song and rights from Paul Rice and put his own name on it, a practice not uncommon in the pre-World War II music business . Some early versions of the song credit the Rice Brothers . Descendants and associates of Oliver Hood, a LaGrange, Georgia musician who collaborated with Rice, claim Hood wrote the song in the early 1930s, first performing it in 1933 at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention at LaGrange, Georgia in 1933 . According to some accounts, clarinetist Pud Brown was also involved with the Rice Brothers for the song's origin or first arrangement . Davis said that for some time he had been enthusiastic about the song and had unsuccessfully tried to convince record companies to record it before finally making his own 1940 record of the song . Davis' version was popular and was followed by numerous other covers, including those of Bing Crosby and Gene Autry, whose versions made the number a big hit . Davis emphasized his association with the song when running for governor of Louisiana in 1944, singing it at all his campaign rallies, while riding on a horse named "Sunshine". </P> <Ul> <Li> Take Me Back to Oklahoma (1940) - sung by Tex Ritter </Li> <Li> Strictly in the Groove (1942) - sung by Jimmie Davis . </Li> <Li> Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975) </Li> </Ul>

Who wrote the original you are my sunshine