Raymond Hitchcock <br /><br />"Ain't It Funny What a Difference a Few Hours Make?" <br /><br />Columbia A5231 <br /><br />"Ain't It Funny What a Difference a Few Hours Make?" was also recorded by Billy Murray. <br /><br />The song was performed by Raymond Hitchcock when he played the role of Abijah Booze. the American Consul in Puerto Plata. The show was titled A YANKEE CONSUL. The song is a lament about having to rise early. <br /><br />When the sun starts to rise in the faroff eastern skies <br />And the wakening little birdies teem <br />When each poor sad-eyed clerk has to hustle down to work <br />It is then that I begin to need my sleep <br />All the noise that is made in the busy marts of trade <br />Seems to lull me like a mother's soft refrain <br />But at night, say at three, it is little bright-eyed me <br />There's a difference that I really can't explain! <br /><br />Ain't it funny what a difference just a few hours make? <br />In the morning I'm so tired I'm nearly dead! <br />But as day grows into night I begin to feel all right <br />Just about the time I ought to go to bed! <br />As a businessman I know I'd make an awful hit <br />If they'd let me work when I am wide awake! <br />If some system could be found just to turn the time around <br />Ain't it funny what a difference just a few hours make? <br /><br />My old bunk is the place, when I seek its soft embrace, <br />Whence my troubles and my cares take flight! <br />And I regularly say, as I tumble out each day, <br />"Now I'm going to get a lot of sleep tonight!" <br />I resolve without doubt to cut dissipation out, <br />But I make my resolution all in vain! <br />For it ain't any use: there is always some excuse, <br />It's a problem that I really can't explain! <br /><br />Ain't it funny what a difference just a few hours make? <br />All my clothes look mighty seedy in the day! <br />But when evening shadows fall, why I don't look bad at all! <br />All the wrinkles and the grease spots fade away! <br />Then I loose my tired feelings, and I find my tired friends <br />And I hit it up toll morn begins to break! <br /><br />But when noon time comes along, I'm for Carrie Nation strong! <br />Ain't it funny what a difference just a few hours make? <br /><br />Raymond Hitchcock was born on October 22, 1865. <br /><br />He was once famous as a stage personality, but he is unknown today except by a handful of theater historians. <br /><br />In Broadway shows he introduced a few songs that enjoyed some success though such songs are forgotten today. <br /><br />He made silent films, too. <br /><br />The recordings he made for Victor and Columbia did not sell well, and they are not memorable. <br /><br />Hitchcock was married to Freda Bowen from 1891 to 1903 and then was married to actress Flora Zabelle (1880-1968) from 1905 to his death in 1929. <br /><br />He died suddenly on November 24, 1929, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. <br /><br />Raymond Hitchcock "Ain't It Funny What a Difference a Few Hours Make?" (1910) Columbia A5231
