Forgive my father I'm about speak blasphemy.

Are we talking about the folkies bible, the 1st testament? I wouldn't actually burn the book but it would collect an awful lot of dust before I'd use it, there are far better reliable & easliy available sources. I was asked to stop singing a song & was told that the words I was singing was not the same as RUS & to top it off was told I was singing it in the wrong key & could you sing it the right way like in the book so we all could sing along. I would definitely not recommend it as a reliable source. I don't throw all the blame on RUS but they share it with those that use it as the end all to beat all. Maybe RUS could've included a disclaimer. Something like, this not the folksingers gospel, don't take it as a proper source, expect there'll be errors & "do not burn this book even if you're freezing to death". I got so pissed to see & hear others talk about otherwise once decent singing sessions going downhill to find a level that would be a common denominator that I wrote the song below. It may well be I was a bit to harsh at the time, I hardly hear about the bible anymore.

Barry


Rise Up Screaming (tune: Jack In The Green)

A pub session or a party is a very strange thing
They're all out of fashion no more do they sing
For they read from a book or copy a tape
They imitate sounds no mortal should make

There's no sound in the kitchen, no sound in the hall
There's a murderous screech that plays off the walls
Where is the music, where are the songs
In the mouths of monsters where no sound belongs

Dead pan they look as they sing in your face
They'll spit out the words and the tunes they'll disgrace
A song will be beat o'r and over to death
And in a round robin they'll resurrect it again

No more will be heard a version that's lost
Or a variant that's rare or two songs that were crossed
The borrowing or sharing of a tune or a song
Will be according to the Bible all else will be wrong

And now for the future, it's bleak for the song
No young mortal will dare to carry it on
They'll be none around who without books can sing
Or swap without tapes or rise up singing