Vocal version without music !!

For The Mocking Bird we have the vocal adaptation Listen to the Mocking Bird with music by Richard Milburn and lyrics by Septimus Winner

and we have the instrumental adaptation with only the music by Richard Milburn

But when I click on a seperate instrumental version The Mocking Bird

the lyricist Septimus Winner is also mentioned.

Is this correct ?

And then there is a 3rd possibility, a version with only words, no music.

On the link below you can listen to a spoken version.

https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100001679/Pre-matrix_A-1705…

How should we handle this situation.

JoJo greets

Was the music written at the same time as the lyrics, or did the instrumental version exist first? If you scroll down to the instrumental section it does only credit the composer rather than the lyricist.

As far as the spoken word version - it's hard to handle those except in cases where the lyrics existed prior to the music (as is often the case with old hymns or poems that are later set to music)

Michael,

Apparently the music came first, because Septimus Winner wrote the song using a tune he heard an African American street musician whistle. Richard Milburn known as “Whistling Dick,” played guitar and whistled on Philadelphia streets for money in the mid-nineteenth century. One of his entertainments was to imitate a mockingbird by whistling a particular melody. Winner took this melody and wrote lyrics to it.

The cover I found, can't be added as an instrumental adaptation.

It could be added as an English adaptation, with a comment like: "spoken only version".

What do you propose ?

JoJo greets

Quote from jojo

Apparently the music came first, because Septimus Winner wrote the song using a tune he heard an African American street musician whistle. Richard Milburn known as “Whistling Dick,” played guitar and whistled on Philadelphia streets for money in the mid-nineteenth century. One of his entertainments was to imitate a mockingbird by whistling a particular melody. Winner took this melody and wrote lyrics to it.

Sounds like an instrumental root work by Richard Milburn and an adaptation by Septimus Winner ?

Quote from jojo

And then there is a 3rd possibility, a version with only words, no music.

On the link below you can listen to a spoken version.

https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100001679/Pre-matrix_A-1705…

I'm afraid we have no solution for this but to explain in the comment section.