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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. He wrote the lyrics to the World War I song "It Won't Be Long Before We're Home", and the World War II enlistment song "Four Buddies". 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.

Cunningham collaborated on numerous songs with composer Ernie Burnett, and also worked with Ira Schuster. 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)". In 1956 he was elected president of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

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.

External links

• Paul Cunningham at IMDb

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