Comments on: Jimmie Davis Bio

[Isaac-Saxxon]

Originally Posted by Pocahontas

What a nice man! I drive over the Jimmie Davis Bridge and highway every day!
Wasn't his wife's name Sunshine, therefore, giving double meaning to the hit "You are my Sunshine?"

James Houston Davis, better known as Jimmie Davis, (September 11, 1899 - November 5, 2000) was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as a Democratic governor of Louisiana (1944-1948 and 1960-1964). Davis was considered to have been part of the anti-Long faction though Governor Earl Kemp Long endorsed him in the pivotal 1960 runoff election.


He is associated with several popular songs, most notably "You Are My Sunshine," which was designated an official state song of Louisiana in 1977. He claimed that he wrote the song while attending graduate school at LSU, but research indicates he bought it from another performer Paul Rice, who had recorded it with his brother Hoke, who recorded together as the Rice Brothers under Paul Rice's name. The practice of buying songs from their composers was a common practice during the 1930s through the 1960s. Some writers in need of cash often sold tunes to others.

[piemaker720]

Originally Posted by Isaac-Saxxon

James Houston Davis, better known as Jimmie Davis, (September 11, 1899 - November 5, 2000) was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as a Democratic governor of Louisiana (1944-1948 and 1960-1964). Davis was considered to have been part of the anti-Long faction though Governor Earl Kemp Long endorsed him in the pivotal 1960 runoff election.


He is associated with several popular songs, most notably "You Are My Sunshine," which was designated an official state song of Louisiana in 1977. He claimed that he wrote the song while attending graduate school at LSU, but research indicates he bought it from another performer Paul Rice, who had recorded it with his brother Hoke, who recorded together as the Rice Brothers under Paul Rice's name. The practice of buying songs from their composers was a common practice during the 1930s through the 1960s. Some writers in need of cash often sold tunes to others.

Rice himself had adapted it from another person's poem. Reportedly, the song was copyrighted under Davis' name and that of longtime sideman Charles Mitchell, after they purchased it from Rice. Davis also purchased the country ballad "It Makes No Difference Now" from its composer Floyd Tillman. Tillman later had his composer credit restored alongside Davis's.
Rice himself didn't actually write the words eiher, it came from a poem.