* Can a writer forbid the singing of his songs?
* Can a writer forbid the singing of altered versions of his songs?

I knew a songwriter who would have loved to forbid a group to sing one of his songs as they re-arranged the verse order, destroying the sense! He asked them several times not to change the sense, to no avail. Adding insult to injury when they booked him at their club, they asked if he was planning to sing that song when introducing him. When he said no, they said, Good, we want to sing it!

I recall a guest adding to a thread, saying s/he was the author of a song on the thread & IT WAS WRONG & mustn't be sung that way. The only change I could see was a simple "can/may" type word substitution, the kind of thing I've heard in many a singing session, or even on CDs - 2 by singer/songwriters who changed words in their own songs

sandra