[mb-users] cover and parody revisited

[Arturus Magi]

On 7/31/06, Frederik 'Freso' S. Olesen <freso.dk at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2006/7/30, Arturus Magi <sailorleo at gmail.com>:
> >Also, the various retelling of the Ball of Kerrymiur (Jim Croce talks
> >at length in between verses in his last live album about writing a new
> >verse to the song) and Scarbourough Faire, although in these cases,
> >the original performance is lost to the mists of time.
>
> I don't think the "cover" relation works well with traditional tunes
> and songs (such as Scarborough Fair). The "original performance" (at
> least for the vast majority of the current ones) was made ages before
> anything to record it was even invented.

I did note myself that those particular examples were a bit awkward
and for that reason.

And I'm not sure I'd even say the 'vast majority.'  Happy Birthday is
still, technically, under copyright protection, which means we can
trace it back to a single performance.

> Due to the nature of
> traditional songs and music, they've also been continually changed (at
> least until they are written down :/)

And even after: see my note wrt: Ball of Kerrymiur.

>, hence you might have
> Scarborough Fair vY and Scarborough Fair vZ, though both are evolved
> from Scarborough Fair vX which was lost 200 years ago - which, then,
> would be a cover of which?

Which is a question that needs to be answered in more cases than just
pre-grammophone traditional music.  Taking up the case of traditional
music, even if it shouldn't be considered for use in the database
itself, will still help with guidelines to resolve the more
complicated tangles.