Well done Joe
Perhaps that will take some of the heat out of what could be an interesting discussion.
Cheat-sheets are ok in certain circumstances - I remember friends using them bu taping, say, orders of verses on their guitars
The last time I was in an English club I witnessed singers admitting they hadn'e managed to learn the song and still singing it by reading it from a sheet - not acceptable as far as I am concerned
The worst practice was singers calling up texts on their mobile phones - why do they bother?
I watched MacColl perform regularly for over twenty years and, towards the end of his life I began to notice his memory for words go, but I doubt if many other people noticed it.
Ewan learned his songs by absorbing them as complete pieces - stories -when the set texts escaped him, he improvised.
I noticed this happening because I had heard his songs so often down the years - on several occasions he would grin across the room when he made a slip and he saw I had recognised him doing it.
Warm memories, if a little sad
Jim Carroll