“You Are My Sunshine” may in fact be the most ubiquitous piece of music of the 20th century, second only to “Happy Birthday” and “Shave and a Haircut.” Its popularity never wanes with passing generations. It’s a remarkably simple tune, especially when you excise the verses and focus exclusively on the chorus - as almost everybody does. Or perhaps I simply picked up the words and the melody as she sang them to me. I sang along with her, so it can’t have been my first exposure to the tune. I can fondly recall my Grandmother Love singing it to me when I was 3 or 4 and I would fall asleep in her giant four-poster bed. They’ve simply lived with it from the time they developed a memory. “You Are My Sunshine” is so deeply embedded in the popular culture that most people can’t even remember when they first heard it.

So does everyone who reads about the Oklahoma tornadoes.

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. Instead, it’s the image of everybody singing “You Are My Sunshine” in the eye of the storm. Still, what makes the story so powerful is not simply the teachers’ common-sense decision to move the students into the bathrooms. It shows a bit of everyday heroism in the face of great destruction, reminiscent of similar lifesaving actions at Sandy Hook six months ago. That story has become one of the main talking points in the news coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” they sang. 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. To protect their charges, the adults draped them in a protective covering to keep them from panicking, they sang songs through the storm. 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.

Printable you are my sunshine lyrics