<Tr> <Th> Published </Th> <Td> 1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell (disputed) </Td> </Tr> <P> "You Are My Sunshine" is a popular song written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell and first recorded in 1939 . It has been declared one of the state songs of Louisiana because of its association with Davis, a country music singer and governor of the state in the years 1944--1948 and 1960--1964 . </P> <P> The song has been covered numerous times--so often, in fact, that it is "one of the most commercially programmed numbers in American popular music ." The song, originally country music, has "virtually lost" its original country music identity, and "represent (s) both the national flowering of country music and its eventual absorption into the mainstream of American popular culture ." In 1941, it was covered by Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Mississippi John Hurt, Wayne King and Lawrence Welk . The versions by Autry, Crosby and King reached the US charts of the day . </P>

Who wrote please don't take my sunshine away