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 1944–19–1964. on Monday, when tornado sirens rang out in Moore, Okla., teachers at the AgapeLand Learning Center rushed their 15 students into the bathrooms - the safest place in their brick building.'You Are My Sunshine' is a song popularized by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell in 1939. To protect their charges, the adults draped them in a protective covering to keep them from panicking, they sang songs through the storm. As reported by the New York Times, they led the children in a round of “You Are My Sunshine,” which might seem gently ironic - or perhaps even subtly defiant - given the dangerous weather all around them. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” they sang.

That story has become one of the main talking points in the news coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes.

It shows a bit of everyday heroism in the face of great destruction, reminiscent of similar lifesaving actions at Sandy Hook six months ago. Still, what makes the story so powerful is not simply the teachers’ common-sense decision to move the students into the bathrooms. Instead, it’s the image of everybody singing “You Are My Sunshine” in the eye of the storm. It’s hard to imagine the fear and uncertainty they faced, or even how the youngest of their charges would have responded, but certainly the situation lent new gravity to that final line of the chorus: “Please don’t take my sunshine away.”Įverybody knows the song. So does everyone who reads about the Oklahoma tornadoes.

“You Are My Sunshine” is so deeply embedded in the popular culture that most people can’t even remember when they first heard it. They’ve simply lived with it from the time they developed a memory.

Printable you are my sunshine images