You Are My Sunshine
You Are My Sunshine
By Cecile Page Vargo
Life got tough for a couple of hours and she couldn't explain it away. She grabbed her friend Eleanor, the beauty with the faint moustache that made her smile and teased the men at the gambling tables....and together they headed out of town on foot. Not too far out the muleskinner with his great freight wagon and his large team of mules offered them a ride. That evening they camped at his wagon.
It was a balmy night with a hint of summer in the early spring air. The sky was pitch black and moonless...but the logs on the campfire lit just enough. The desert wind subsided for the evening, but the strains of the mule skinner's sad and lonely fiddle playing permeated the air. The girls sat across from him holding each other and singing an off key:
“You Are my sunshine my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You never know dear how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away……”
to go with his sad version of the song. The coyotes howled in the distant mountains in mournful unison.
When the sounds stopped the girls had a tear drop, one in each dark eye. They held each other tightly, staring into the campfire watching the flames through a blur. The muleskinner stood up and poked and prodded the fire just a bit then poured himself a cup of strong coffee from the old spackled pot. While he slowly sipped his coffee Eleanor remembered the cards she always kept in her pocket and brought them out for a game. The girls gambled for stones until the muleskinner picked up the violin again. The strains were lively this time, and soon two sets of female feet began moving in time to it. Before you know it, they were gathering their skirts and rising from the sandy ground. They took each others hands and began spinning each other around and laughing hysterically. As they spun, the muleskinner fiddled all the faster, occasionally bellowing a loud “Gee haw!”
The frenzy went on till the moonlight finally peaked. As the darkness disappeared the fiddle stopped and the girls plopped down on the ground their petticoats flying in the air for a brief moment as they did so. Eleanor reached in her pocket once again, and took a silver flask to lips for a long hard swig. She wiped the dribble from her chin, and passed it on, the friend and the muleskinner took turns and did exactly the same.
The muleskinner picked up the fiddle once again and began the sour notes of his original song once again in an even more somber tune than before. The girls listened, again with a tear in each dark eye, as his sorrowful voice accompanied his own fiddling:.
"The other nite, 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Louisiana my Louisiana
the place where I was borne.
As the last verse was completed, the flask went around one more time. The muleskinner wobbled to the wagon and tossed out a bedpack which he gave to the girls. He took a jacket for a pillow, and soon was passed out on the still warm sand. The girls shared the bedpack until just before sunrise…then slipped back in to town before the muleskinner opened his eyes. The song remained in the hearts of the girls and the sad off key version became the favorite with the men who’s eyes they caught the fancy of night after night. The muleskinner woke to a solitary campfire breakfast then hitched his mules and went off with his freight to the next destination with nary a tune in his head, and nary a memory of the dancing and sunshine in the dark of the desert night before the moonrise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lruZz91_anQ
By Cecile Page Vargo
Life got tough for a couple of hours and she couldn't explain it away. She grabbed her friend Eleanor, the beauty with the faint moustache that made her smile and teased the men at the gambling tables....and together they headed out of town on foot. Not too far out the muleskinner with his great freight wagon and his large team of mules offered them a ride. That evening they camped at his wagon.
It was a balmy night with a hint of summer in the early spring air. The sky was pitch black and moonless...but the logs on the campfire lit just enough. The desert wind subsided for the evening, but the strains of the mule skinner's sad and lonely fiddle playing permeated the air. The girls sat across from him holding each other and singing an off key:
“You Are my sunshine my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You never know dear how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away……”
to go with his sad version of the song. The coyotes howled in the distant mountains in mournful unison.
When the sounds stopped the girls had a tear drop, one in each dark eye. They held each other tightly, staring into the campfire watching the flames through a blur. The muleskinner stood up and poked and prodded the fire just a bit then poured himself a cup of strong coffee from the old spackled pot. While he slowly sipped his coffee Eleanor remembered the cards she always kept in her pocket and brought them out for a game. The girls gambled for stones until the muleskinner picked up the violin again. The strains were lively this time, and soon two sets of female feet began moving in time to it. Before you know it, they were gathering their skirts and rising from the sandy ground. They took each others hands and began spinning each other around and laughing hysterically. As they spun, the muleskinner fiddled all the faster, occasionally bellowing a loud “Gee haw!”
The frenzy went on till the moonlight finally peaked. As the darkness disappeared the fiddle stopped and the girls plopped down on the ground their petticoats flying in the air for a brief moment as they did so. Eleanor reached in her pocket once again, and took a silver flask to lips for a long hard swig. She wiped the dribble from her chin, and passed it on, the friend and the muleskinner took turns and did exactly the same.
The muleskinner picked up the fiddle once again and began the sour notes of his original song once again in an even more somber tune than before. The girls listened, again with a tear in each dark eye, as his sorrowful voice accompanied his own fiddling:.
"The other nite, 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Louisiana my Louisiana
the place where I was borne.
As the last verse was completed, the flask went around one more time. The muleskinner wobbled to the wagon and tossed out a bedpack which he gave to the girls. He took a jacket for a pillow, and soon was passed out on the still warm sand. The girls shared the bedpack until just before sunrise…then slipped back in to town before the muleskinner opened his eyes. The song remained in the hearts of the girls and the sad off key version became the favorite with the men who’s eyes they caught the fancy of night after night. The muleskinner woke to a solitary campfire breakfast then hitched his mules and went off with his freight to the next destination with nary a tune in his head, and nary a memory of the dancing and sunshine in the dark of the desert night before the moonrise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lruZz91_anQ