You are my sunshine... (bitchy rant)

Katie6126 · January 2014

I am a Pinterest junkie and I keep seeing sooooo much stuff with the "You Are My Sunshine" lyrics on it... on nursery decor and baby clothes, etc. I realize that we learn this song in grade school, but does nobody know the entire song or do people just choose to ignore the other verses? I like the song, but am I the only one that thinks it's not a song you sing to your baby? Sorry in advance to those who love this song...

Edit: I probably should have waited till flame-free-Friday for this one... hahaha

The other night, dear,
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried.

I'll always love you
And make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me
To love another
You'll regret it all some day;

You told me once, dear
You really loved me
And no one else could come between
But now you've left me
And love another
You have shattered all my dreams;

You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.

purplestarz · January 2014

I only knew the last section. We had a fridge magnet with a bear on it that when you pressed on it would sing this song

interesting rest of the lyrics though!

Irisheyes1247 · January 2014

We always sang the first and last verse. I still think the first verse is sweet.

mana8503 · January 2014

My mom sang it to me growing up... the whole song. We have a lot of blue grass players on both sides of the family so it was played at gatherings.

Idk, I never thought it was weird. I always thought it meant she loved me, and will always love me.

MrsLaLaBug · January 2014

While I like the song and appreciate the sentimental part of it, I agree it has def saturated the market.

drae86 · January 2014

I'm with @mana8503 on this. My mom sang the whole thing to me and I really loved it growing up. I do like the Johnny Cash version too.

I need to read up on some nursery songs though! This may be the only one I remember along with twinkle twinkle little star....

fruitloop151 · January 2014

I can see what you mean. Although, I've never been a fan of Rock-A-Bye baby, either, because the song is essentially about the cradle plummeting to the ground..

mrsdanielleM2010 · January 2014

There's always a dark side to the older nursery rhymes... And it creeps me out. I'm with the op - not a fan of the You are my Sunshine.

mana8503 · January 2014

Ring-around the rosies is about the plague...

Seriously - look up real meanings behind nursery rhymes, they are pretty dark

kayemgi · January 2014

Haha I'm with you! It's one of my pet peeves, when people don't listen to the whole song and use it appropriately. I notice it the most at weddings and it drives me crazy!

lily8543 · January 2014

I have never really liked this song either. I think the lyrics are manipulative.

Maggie-Moo · January 2014

I am a fan of the song and I am completely good with only using the portions of the song that work for you. Just because someone included it in their rendition of it (or it was there originally) doesn't mean you need to include it in your rendition or your family's traditions.

I would probably peeve @kayemgi off as I chose a song for my wedding that I love and, recognizing that it was not all entirely appropriate, chose to include only the portions that worked for me. It came down to the fact that I didn't give a hoot what other people thought, I wanted something with significance for me. In this case, the song was "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. My dad always sang it to me growing up and it has huge meaning for us, so I wanted that to be the song I danced with my dad to at my wedding. But there is a verse about them doing it in a football field, so we chose to end the song before that verse...

But I agree, a lot of nursery rhymes are dark. I don't like rock-a-bye baby for the reason noted above, but for some reason I think the fact that Ring around the Rosie is about the plague is funny. Also, Grimm fairy tales are pretty damn grim and we generally ignore the original and good with a more mainstream option, which I think is okay, as times have changed since then.

bodziochl · January 2014

Reminds me of the Casey/Caylee Anthony case. They played a video of the baby singing it on the news over and over...kind of ruined it for me lol

kayemgi · January 2014

Ah, but @Maggie-Moo I think it's perfect what you did. If the song has meaning to you and you cut it off before the inappropriate part, I wouldn't have blinked an eye at your wedding! I'm mostly irked by people who think that if it's a ballad, it must be a love song. Not always the case!!

bridein08 · January 2014

fruitloop151 said:

I can see what you mean. Although, I've never been a fan of Rock-A-Bye baby, either, because the song is essentially about the cradle plummeting to the ground..

I change the ending of rock a bye baby to "and mom will catch baby, cradle and all." My two year old loves it, but I hate the usual ending. Depressing.

Vanellope · January 2014

Most nursery rhymes/songs are morbid. Doesn't mean I stop singing them. Lol we sing rock a by baby, you are my sunshine. There is one that my family sings and it was sung to me as a child but I refuse to sing it is poor little babes.

My friends, have you heard, how a long time ago,
Two little children whose names I don't know,
Were stolen away on a bright summer's day,
And left in the woods, I've heard people say.

Chorus:
Poor babes in the woods,
Poor babes in the woods,
Oh don't you remember
Poor babes in the woods.

And when it was night, so sad was their plight,
The sun went down, and the moon gave no light,
They sobbed and they sighed, and they bitterly cried,
Then the poor little things, they laid down and died.

And when they were dead, the robins so red,
Brought strawberry leaves and over them spread,
And all the night long, the branches among,
They mourned as they whistled, and this was their song....

MrsGoody1118 · January 2014

I sing the last verse to my little girl and insert her name rather than "sunshine". It is a little creepy knowing the rest of the lyrics.

On a similar note, I was watching Snow White with my 2 year old yesterday....that movie is so dark. I never realized that when I was a kid.

shutaff · January 2014

My mom used to sing this to me too. Even though she only sang the first and last verses, I still thought the song was depressing. Being someone's "only sunshine" is too big a role to fill. Now that I see the other verses, I realize my instincts were right... It's a creepy song.

Kateysomething · January 2014

I knew about all the verses, but I have fond memories of having it sung to me (first and last, like most people), so I sing it to my girls.

Actually, I sing it to DD#2, she loves it and requests it every night. My older daughter, though, even when she was little, would insist I not sing it because it is "too sad".

nicari_13 · January 2014

My best friend taught me all the lyrics when we were kids. I still love the song and sing it all to my girls. I just think of it as introducing mommy guilt early

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