James Cavanaugh (songwriter)

James Anthony Cavanaugh (New York City, 29 October 1892 - New York City 18 August 1967) was an American songwriter.[1] Among his best known songs were "The Gaucho Serenade" (title track of the soundtrack to the Gene Autry movie Gaucho Serenade), and "Mississippi Mud" (1927) made popular by Bing Crosby, "Crosstown" (1940) co-written with John Redmond.

Early Life

In 1917, Cavanaugh was living in Manhattan, at 511 W 130th St., was married to Martha V. Conroy, and was working as a private chauffeur for a businessman at 43 West 55th St. in Manhattan [source: WW I draft card claiming married exemption, 6/5/17, a month before the birth of his first son, Charles]. In October of 1918, he was drafted despite this, but as luck would have it, the armistice was signed 11/11/18 and Cavanaugh was discharged honorably in mid-December in the general demobilization.[source: US WW I Draft Registration Cards]

Transition to Songwriting Professional

James and Martha Cavanaugh would go on to raise six children. In the 1930 Census he still listed himself as a chauffeur, still living in Manhattan. In the 1940 US census, the family had moved to 316 East 184th Street in the Bronx, but Cavanaugh, despite having written successful songs for seven years by that time, still listed his occupation as "chauffeur." Finally, by 1942, when he registered for the "Old Man Draft" at the age of 50, he listed his employer as ASCAP, 30 Rockefeller Center, NYC, and he was living in the Bronx (where he still lived at the time of his death in 1967): he'd made the transition to professional songwriter.[source: US WW II Draft Registration Cards, 1942]

Songs

(Note: listing is incomplete)

References
  1. Warren W. Vaché The unsung songwriters: America's masters of melodies 2000 Page 58 " James Cavanaugh was born in New York City, and he died there on August 18, 1967. Not much is known of his early career, except that he worked in vaudeville and wrote his own material"
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