It's an interesting situation...I hang out with a crowd that includes some very good singers/musicians, a number of whom are real 'song vacuums'! They have good taste, good memories, and an insatiable appetite for good songs. (The list includes my own wife, who cannot stand to know only 'part' of a song...including the ones I sing!)And if someone learns a good song, they want to be able to sing it when it seems to fit the mood...

It gets to be quite a study in social dynamics when we are in a large group where 7-8 people know 'almost' the same song(s), all trying to remember who sort of has the current 'rights' to a song. *grin*
Usually, no one gets particularly offended if someone does a song they had worked hard on (but, OH!, the exceptions!)...but those of us who do not have huge repertories or are not in the top eschelon of singers have an interesting dilemma trying to pick a song, knowing there may be 6 people in the room who do it better.

Let's face it...some songs are 'ok', some are 'good', some are blockbusters, and some are true classics! And I 'think' I tend to pick songs to learn that are not likely to be covered by the better singers in my group. I know for a fact that there are a few songs I do that others locally do also, but they make every effort to NOT do them when I'm around, sometimes because I was 'first' to do them, or because they are just kind and thoughtful..*big grin*.

There are 'cycles' of popularity for songs, and often it will happen that "X" will do a song that "Y" used to be known for years ago, and this is not NEARLY the issue that swiping a 'newish' song is. Once, 20+ years ago, lots of folks wanted to be the one known in our group for doing Utah Phillips "Goodnight, Loving Trail"...now it is fair game. But that "Yangtze River" shanty mentioned in another thread is NEW, and jockeying doth go on for versions and associations! (polite jockeying, of course! ;>) ...

ah, ain't our egos interesting?