Paul Cunningham (songwriter)

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Paul Cunningham and Florence Bennett Paul Cunningham and Florence Bennett Nvasouvenir192307nati 0030.jpg
Paul Cunningham and Florence Bennett

Paul Cunningham (January 25, 1890, New York City - August 14, 1960, New York City) was an American composer, lyricist, songwriter, and singer. A graduate of the Manhattan College of Music, he began his career working in vaudeville as both a vocalist and songwriter; often in collaboration with Florence Bennett. [1] He wrote the lyrics to the World War I song "It Won't Be Long Before We're Home", [2] and the World War II enlistment song "Four Buddies". [3] He composed the music to "When the Robert E. Lee Arrives in Old Tennessee (All the Way from Gay Paree)" with J. Keirn Brennan serving as his lyricist. [4]

Cunningham collaborated on numerous songs with composer Ernie Burnett, and also worked with Ira Schuster. [5] His most successful songs were "All Over Nothing At All", "From the Vine Came the Grape", "Harriet", "I Am An American", and "Tripoli (The Shores of)". [6] In 1956, he was elected president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. [7]

References

  1. Rehrig, William H. (1991). "Cunnigham, Paul". The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and their music. Integrity Press. p. 168.
  2. Vogel, Frederick G. (1995). World War I Songs: A History and Dictionary of Popular American Patriotic Tunes, with Over 300 Complete Lyrics. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 197. ISBN   0-89950-952-5. OCLC   32241433.
  3. Jones, John Bush (2006). The Songs That Fought the War: Popular Music and the Home Front. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. p. 99. ISBN   1584654430.
  4. Jones, John Bush (2015). Reinventing Dixie : Tin Pan Alley's songs and the creation of the mythic South. Louisiana State University Press. p. 207.
  5. Tyler, Don (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955 : American popular music of the pre-rock era. McFarland & Company. pp. 361, 469.
  6. Lissauer, Robert (1996). "Cunningham, Paul". Lissauer's Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America : 1888 to the Present. Facts On File. p. 1194.
  7. "ASCAP PICKS PRESIDENT; Paul Cunningham, Composer, Succeeds Stanley Adams". The New York Times . April 27, 1956. p. 21B.