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February 15

What is an "official version" of a popular song?

The article My Coloring Book (about the song of that title from the 1960s) has a subsection headed "Official versions). I had not seen or heard that term before with regard to recordings of popular music. What makes any particular recording of a song the "official version"? Eddie Blick (talk) 03:26, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The fact that some Wikipedia editor added those words to that article. --Jayron 32 03:28, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It was included in the very first edit creating the article, by Giovannii84 (talk · contribs), who unfortunately has been inactive since last May. But it's possible his email still works. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:35, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

An "official version" is anything that is not a cover version. 86.169.57.217 (talk) 13:38, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The better term would be original version. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:03, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"Original version" sounds much better. Thanks for the feedback.Eddie Blick (talk) 02:24, 16 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Also consider a song such as "Tutti Frutti". It was co-written by, and for, Little Richard. So his version is the original. But calling it the "official" version is questionable, because what authority decides what an "official" version is? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:03, 16 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This reminds me of how people are being introduced as, "Now give it up for Clyde Hairworth, who will perform The Beatles' "Till There Was You" for us". In what sense is this song the Beatles'? Only in the sense that their recording was the best known for a while, but they were not the first to record it and they had nothing to do with its composition. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:01, 18 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe the singer would perform it Beatles style: "There were birds in the sky / But I never sore them winging / No I never sore them at all / Till there was you." I can just hear Meredith Willson turning over in his grave. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:59, 18 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I doubt it. The first version of that song was released before the musical premiered, and I'm sure he had no objection to the royalties the Beatles version generated. PS: Sir Paul controls the rights to Wilson's music. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 22:18, 19 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Rapper named Claus (sp?)

There was a song playing at the radio on my office on KMEL. Somebody told me the rapper's name was /klɔz/ (pronounced like "clause", "claws", or Santa "Claus"). Unfortunately, the iHeartRadio page that showed the most recently played songs on KMEL didn't list any of the songs the station played during the noon hour that day. I've been looking for "claus", "clause", "klaus", "klause", and all the spellings + "rapper", but haven't found a rapper by that name online, or at least not a famous one. So have any of you heard of /klɔz/, and how does he spell his name? Ultrahippopotamus (talk) 21:16, 15 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure it was not Nas or Pras? Perhaps you (or your interlocutor) was confused about the initial consonant? --Jayron 32 00:25, 16 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Um, clause and Nas have entirely different vowels. Maybe there's a rapper "Gnaws"? μηδείς (talk) 00:49, 19 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on your dialect, you may treat such vowels as in free variation. See father-bother merger, so no, sometimes, for some people, those are the same sound, or are different but not recognizably so. --Jayron 32 14:54, 19 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

My dialect(s) merge father and bother but not cot and caught. How I say Florida Oranges depends if I am in the Delaware Valley or the Greater New York Area.

It may have been Pras. The lyrics rhymed "sauna" with "gonna wanna" (or "gotta wanna"), but googling for the lot doesn't turn up any song. Ultrahippopotamus (talk) 20:26, 22 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]