The Publisher-- "A new arrangement of a PD song creates a new copyright."

Clearly, this explains why Clementine, at the NMPA site
shows 15 different copyright claims; why the Battle
Hymn of the Republic has about 60 and why there are
95 claims for Greensleeves. SInce the Digital Tradition
contains only lyrics and, for about half
the songs, a simple melody line, it seems obvious that
nobody's creative arrangement is being used.
Could you tell us which copyright
holder should be applied to for permission? Especially
since, in the examples I've used, there's demonstrable
prior art going back more than 100 years.