Genie, I beg your pardon- that's the trouble with internet aliases, you don't know who your talking to. And I apologise if I misquoted you, I wasn't able to check your original post.

However I feel there is a world of difference between providing words to help others participate, and relying on them yourself. I also think there's a difference between a professional using them in specific circumstances, where they judge it necessary, and an inexperienced singer using a songbook as a crutch.

I also think comparisons with orchestras and choirs are misleading. They are usually performing far more complex music. Classical musicians are trained to be able to play what is put in front of them - they are not required or expected to play from memory (apart from a few soloists). The dynamics of a large group of musicians or singers performing in a concert hall are also very different from most folk performances, usually soloists or small groups in more intimate venues.

With folk music, as with most popular music genres, the culture has always been to sing from memory. In recent years, this seems to have broken down. It seems to have been tolerated at first to assist a few inexperienced singers get over their jitters, and others seized their opportunity. The idea has also grown up that the most important thing is for people to sing, whether or not they have any aptitude for it or are prepared to put in the work to learn to do it properly.