Genie: I suffer from pedantry too, but mostly I suffer in silence.

Before I posted the lyrics, I consulted Allmusic.com, under the entry for the songwriter, Herbert "Happy" Lawson. (That's where I got most of my list of performers.) They list around 135 recordings by various artists, and all but 3 of them use the spelling ANYTIME, including those by Eddy Arnold, who also had an album called "Anytime." So that's what I used.

However, today I checked the Indiana University "IN Harmony" sheet music web site. They apparently have the sheet music in their library, although it isn't viewable online. The catalog entry says ANY TIME. That's how WorldCat.org lists it, too. So that's probably authoritative.

I figure what probably happened was this: when Lawson wrote the song, he called it ANY TIME. When Arnold recorded it, either he or his record company (probably the latter) decided to call it (or perhaps mistakenly called it) ANYTIME. Since Arnold had the big hit with it, nearly everyone who covered it followed his example instead of referring back to the sheet music.

This isn't too surprising; I suppose it's far more common for musicians to learn songs by listening to other people's recordings than by reading sheet music.

One of the recordings called ANY TIME was by Leon Redbone. His album was also called "Any Time." Do you suppose he spelled it that way because he learned the song from the sheet music? This made me wonder whether Redbone sang it any differently than Arnold (and everybody else) did. So I played a sample at Allmusic.com, and sure enough, I heard words I had never heard before. Then I Googled with those words, and found this:

From Country Song Roundup Annual, 1965 (Derby, CT: Charlton Publications), page 1970:


ANYTIME [sic]
(As recorded by Eddy Arnold/RCA Victor) [sic]
Herbert Happy Lawson

I'm sad and blue 'bout nobody but you.
Why you don't seem the same to me.
I told you that I loved you right from the start.
You told me the very same thing
And now you break my heart.
If you don't want me kindly tell me so.
I love you and I'll say before I go:

Anytime you're feeling lonely,
Anytime you're feeling blue,
Anytime you feel downhearted,
That will prove your love for me is true.
Anytime you're thinking 'bout me,
That's the time I'll be thinking of you,
So any time you say that you want me back again,
That's the time I'll come back home to you.

Copyright 1921 by Herbert Happy Lawson MUSIC Pub., Co. Copyright assigned 1948 to Hill &, Range Songs, Inc. Copyright renewed 1949 by Herbert Happy Lawson. Renewal copyright assigned to Hill & Range Songs, Inc. All rights reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by Permission. (Sole selling agent Hill and Range Songs, Inc.)