CANNING, Irene Akerley

Irene Akerley Canning was an early twentieth-century composer and lyricist associated with American popular song. Although little is known about her life, surviving publications and copyright records document her activity during the 1920s. Her best-known surviving work, Just Been Wond’ring All Day Long, was published in New York by M. Witmark & Sons in 1921. Canning wrote both the words and the music, scoring the song for solo voice and piano with an optional violin obbligato. Editions were issued in several keys for different vocal ranges.
The song circulated beyond its original voice-and-piano version. Copyright records document instrumental transcriptions and arrangements by George J. Trinkaus, while historical recording catalogues identify Canning as both composer and lyricist in connection with recordings made in 1923.
A second confirmed composition, Those Dear Little Whiles with You, was published by M. Witmark & Sons in 1925, again with both words and music credited to Canning. These surviving songs place her among the women who contributed to the commercial ballad and popular-song repertory of the United States during the early twentieth century.