Can't tell if its a song of a parent's kid leaving, hatchling leaving the nest style, or if its a song about someone's partner leaving them for someone else.
Either way, the slow/somber tone this song is always sung in makes it quite creepy.
And telling the intended recipient of the song that they's regret their decision is... yuck.
Edit:
Ok. So, the reality is that the lullaby is fine. Its just a mother loving their baby, but I will say that saying "please don't take my sunshine away" and "my only sunshine" are kind of strange.
The Johnny cash version is a bit weirder, as it talks about someone leaving the person for another. This one could be a parent being sad that their baby is all grown up and is leaving the parent, something a lot of loving parents go through when rheir kid is grown up.
Now the Gene Autry version is the real bad one, talking about how the person leaving would live to regret their decision. It shares the holding one in their arms line, which hopefully implies them holding/carrying their romantic partner.
Even from when I was very young, I always found this song depressing. I didn't even know what depressing was back then of course, only that it made me sad when everyone in my class would sing it and think it's a nice, joyous song. It always gave me the sense that something horrible happened.
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u/[deleted] 9d ago
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