How to credit work that has been recorded with different lyrics?

MusicBrainz
1

I have this work that has been recorded twice on different releases, with different titles and lyrics.

So there is a recording with title A, another recording with title B. Different recording sessions, some different musicians. The music is the same composition, but the lyrics and title are different. The lyricist is the same.

How should I enter this in MB?

I could make it two works but then I’d like to know what relations between the two I have to add.
I could make it a single work but then I need to know how to relate and annotate the recordings.

Thanks!

2

I would create two works with a relationship “is the basis for”. The documentation for this relationship type is:

This links two works, where the second work is based on music or text from the first, but isn’t directly a revision or an arrangement of it.

… which sounds exactly like your case.

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3

Great, thanks!

But then the question arises: what if is is a revision? Let me give an example.

British prog band Twelfth Night wrote a song called Fur Helene Part I (first version lasted 14 minutes) and a song Sequences (first version: 10 minutes). They they shortened Fur Helene Part I (to 6 minutes). Some parts that were left out of Fur Helene Part I were incorporated into Sequences (which with some new bits of music grew to 20 minutes).

Any clear way how to add this properly?

4

You can also use later version.
It’s what I usually do as I don’t really understand the difference and later version relationship was here before revision relationship.

5

I would definitely used “based on” if the derived work is by another composer. If composer is the same, I am afraid a borderline between “revision of” and “based on” in rather foggy. Intuitively, I would say a revision is generally the same work with relatively minor changes, whereas “based on” is a genuinely new work which uses parts of another work. For example, if a couple of lines in a song are changed, it would call it a revision, but if 90% of the text is different, I incline to use “based on”.

In your example probably both “based on” and “revision of” are correct. On one hand, works are created by the same author(s) and even have the same names. On the other hand, changes looks rather massive.

Sorry, but I do not believe there is an absolutely clear rule like "if less than 50% is changed, it is a revision, otherwise ‘based on’ ".

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6

According to the documentation, “later version” is an umbrella relationship type with subtypes “revision of”, “arrangement of” and “based on”.

Whereas “arrangement of” is mostly clear, that is version for another instrument(s), the difference between “revision of” and “based on” is not always clear-cut. Still, there are obvious cases: if a composer changed a couple of arias in his own opera, it’s definitely a “revision of”. If a composer writes a parody on a work of another composer, it is definitely “based on”. But there is a grey area where either may apply.

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7

That’s some excellent illustrations!
Thanks very much.