I sure must not be going to the right places, cuz I've never met anyone who uses the RUS in the "Bible" method that keeps getting described here. I know several people who have copies, and like my copy, the margins are filled with extra verses, alternate versions, and so on.

The RUS book is a heck of a lot more portable than the DT. We don't have electricity around the campfire, much less a phone line. And its not the only book I - or any of the people I refer to above - use AS A GUIDE. Usually, when we're actually singing, we only use it to suggest a song, in case nobody comes up with a suggestion when the last song ends. Then we do it, our way (whoever is leading).

But then again, one of the people I'm talking about is my DAD; the guy who, after I showed him my first copy of RUS, found a bunch of songs "they got it wrong, in here". But we sat up until 4 am singing together, anyhow, and I wouldn't give that back for anything. (Then he went and bought his own copy, and the tapes, because there were some songs in there he hadn't heard and wanted to learn.)

And yes, for some of the songs, the chords don't work out right. But I've found that in lots of other printed sources, too, including music books that "match" an album and cost a whole lot more.

campfire