Jambalaya: Feedback on a proposed merge

Jambalaya (On the Bayou) is the original work entity for Hank Williams’ original song.

In 2019, Jambalaya was created for a Polish translation as recorded by Anna Jantar. Since that time, however, a great deal of recordings and other metadata have gotten linked to that work that actually should relate to the original.

Normally I would just unwind all those to restore the 2019 work to its original intended purpose. However, seeing how much work that would be, I’m proposing to instead merge the two existing works (removing the credit to the Polish lyricists) and create a new work (with disambiguation this time!) for the Polish version.

Any objections? (Or clever ways to mass-update recordings that would make the merge unnecessary?)

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There is an easy way to link the recordings to the correct work all at once, using this method.

Basically: Install @yyoung’s ‘batch add to collection’ script, and enable the ‘batch copy MBID’s’ function. Then you can copy and paste those MBID’s into @kellnerd’s ‘relate entity to multiple MBID’s’ bookmarklet. Magic.

Now, unlinking the recordings from the incorrect work… uhm… anybody have a clue on how to speed it up?

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@highstrung I think you have the right way. If 50+ MBIDs think this is the Hank song and only one think this is the Polish version then it is more correct to keep the majority verdict. I agree with your merge idea as it is going to keep the most correct data correctly linked.

Just when you make that new polish version put a nice big disambiguation on there too.

Looking closer, there are more Hank recordings attached to this Polish version that the original. :smiley:

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Yes, I suspect most releases don’t include “(On the Bayou)” in the title which has contributed to editors choosing the wrong version.

As well as the (On the Bayou) bit, I expect once one Hank Williams is attached to it as an artist it acts as a magnet for the rest. If Hank’s name appears underneath the first one, then people will select it. I know I will often do that when working on a VA where I don’t really know the artists I am working with.

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Thanks for the ideas @aerozol but the unlinking looks to be more trouble than it’s worth. I’ve created a new work for the Polish version and submitted a merge for the other two.

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Jambalaya; [or] On the bayou, by Hank
Williams. [For voice and piano]
© Acuff-Rose Publications, Nashville;
28Jul52; EP64198.

this original publication info from US Copyright Office
I made appropriate changes along with highstrung’s edits
thanks for bringing up topic

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Agreed, there’s like 80 recordings to unlink huh :sweat_smile:

Nice work.

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I am rehabbing Hank Williams and Gene Autry’s song catalogs, then merging all the close matches together, I’ll be done in another month.

update make that several months. Other people are working, and I am now taking my sweet-ass time so I avoid making mistakes. No mistakes is most important to me.

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