# Tag a SONG to it's oldest version **URL:** \ **Category:** MusicBrainz Picard\ **Created:** [August 23, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/tag-a-song-to-its-oldest-version/547783 "2021-08-23T14:07:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![outsidecontext](https://community.metabrainz.org/user_avatar/community.metabrainz.org/outsidecontext/32/90_2.png) [@outsidecontext](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/outsidecontext)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/tag-a-song-to-its-oldest-version/547783/2 "2021-08-23T14:35:34Z")
That’s possible, if MB has the exact same recording for both the later releases and the original 1955 release. If that’s the case the variable `%_recording_firstreleasedate%` can be used for setting the date. See the docs for details: [https://picard-docs.musicbrainz.org/en/extending/scripts.html#use-original-release-date](https://picard-docs.musicbrainz.org/en/extending/scripts.html#use-original-release-date) And the following threads also contain some discussion around this feature: > [@How do I set the recording date of a track?](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/how-do-i-set-the-recording-date-of-a-track/540593): > > I’m cleaning up metadata on some of my compilations, but don’t understand how to do set the original recording date Here’s an example from Heartbreak Hotel released on the ‘Elvis Presley Years’ [https://musicbrainz.org/release/baecc478-7de0-4c13-99ac-a9476ee60c71](https://musicbrainz.org/release/baecc478-7de0-4c13-99ac-a9476ee60c71) It’s a CD, released in 1991, Picard (2.6.3) is showing Original Release Date and Year as 1991 Heartbreak Hotel is track 12, and is listed as 'recording of Heartbreak Hotel on 1956-01-10. Picard does not list the original recording da… > [@Original release date: Community opinion on how to handle the originaldate tag, first release date of release group and / or recording](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/original-release-date-community-opinion-on-how-to-handle-the-originaldate-tag-first-release-date-of-release-group-and-or-recording/512588): > > We have some debate over at the code review [to add support for per track original release date](https://github.com/metabrainz/picard/pull/1732) to Picard. This is a feature that is come up a couple of times here in the forums. Current versions of Picard use the first release date provided by the release group (the earliest release date of all the releases inside the group) to fill the originaldate tag. For many use cases this is fine. But it not always reflects the actual first release of each track. E.g. a compilation might have been release… --- _[View the full topic](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/tag-a-song-to-its-oldest-version/547783)._