Barry -- RUS isn't the source of that group's problems. That group is. There are always people who hate anything unusual or unexpected. If they couldn't choose from the 1200 songs in RUS, they'd happily be demanding that you only sang one of the 73 standards the group *always* sings.

I've encountered some of the other problems. I was told last month that I was hurting someone's ears. Sweet woman. I have a strong voice and I can do that when someone is too close (in this case about two feet). It's easy to deal with, on really loud songs, you just temporarily reposition yourself so that nobody is directly in front of your voice.

As for your preference for learning songs from other singers and never from books, all I can say is: that sounds about as striaight-jacketed as the fools who only sing from RUS.

How could you get angry at someone for offering to lend you a copy of RUS?!? Have you ever read the introduction? "...change a word. Add a verse...or when three people discover a harmony they never knew existed...a crowd joins in on a chorus as though to raise the ceiling a few feet higher" Them's are quotes from the introduction. Did ya think Pete Seeger would want anything different?

However, from the back cover on an early RUS, "Most people actually know the tunes to hundreds of songs - but who can remember the words?..." I think RUS was definitely intended as a folkie's hymnal. Stress on folkie - someone who doesn't mind changing the hymnal or putting it aside without asking.