As I mentioned before. I like singarounds which are fairly 'informal' where friends and folkies; often on the 'fringe' of a festival, will gather together for a good old sing, long into the night. I am not approaching this subject from the view point of the professional folk singer, although I fully note and respect all their comments and suggestions on this thread.

Such sessions, more often than not, are held in the informal and relaxed atmosphere of a British pub, therefore a fair consumption of alcohol is the norm and as the night wears on alcohol can start to interfere with the memory process and people can start to stumble and forget the words of a song.

Folk people in the U.K are generally fairly sensible drinkers so I am not talking about people getting completely rat a**** but rather about people who just become a little 'addled' and lose their way as the night goes on (bless 'em).

This is when the old song book (U.K style) comes into it's own and can become a saviour (in my own opinion).
At least then people can just glance at the words and get back on track when they forget the words.

In my song book are some songs that I associate with certain individuals as 'their song' and that I would never sing in their company. It's not that they have written it or anything like that; but it is a song that they often sing and are 'known for' it or are associated with and which they usually sing from memory without the aid of a song book.

So I would never, out of courtesy, even think about singing 'their' song when they are present. It's all about some kind of folk 'etiquette' or polite sensitivity which I am sure you are all very well aware of and take careful notice of.

The trouble is that too often now, those certain individuals (especially as they get older) will have a lapse of memory and forget a verse or lose their way completely in a song.

This is often upsetting and embarrasing for them and a source of great frustration to them and their audience when a popular song with everyone in full flow suddenly grinds to a halt, and I find that it happens far too often nowadays.

So it is precisely for this reason that I have faithfully noted 'their' song in my song book so that I can follow their song and 'PROMPT' them when they falter.

This has happened so many times now and on every occasion they have thanked me for my help and are very pleased that I had 'their' song in my book and was able to prompt them so they could continue and save the song. They have never complained or chastised me and they really have been grateful and pleased by my interjection.

It's only, after all, like a 'prompter' in the wings of a theatrical production (as someone said earlier) who is there to prompt the actor when they forgot their lines.

So perhaps song books aren't all that taboo and shouldn't be burnt on the bonfire of some kind of modern day perceived tradional propriety or some kind of misconceived proffesional snobbery.

I am sorry to use the term 'snobbery' but I can't think of a better term at the moment.

Surely the main thing is to sing the song; to breath life into it and bring it alive and deliver it as close as you can to the way it's creator intended, whether it is note and word perfect, or simply pretty close and that will do very well, thankyou.

From my experience when I have observed people singing from a song book (myself included) they have not sung the song like a bland and lifeless recital with their head stuck into the book but have injected life into it and have done the song full justice and their audience has been completely satisfied.

I do actually believe and support the argument that the songs you feel strongly about should be learnt and memorised and I have promised on this thread to make the effort to do this. I also think that the songs themselves deserve such loving and willing attention.

But, finally, I also believe that there is still a role for the song book as a personal prompt and as a valuable and appreciated prompt to friends and close associates on the occasions when they falter and also to be shared so that other (often new songsters) can join in.

So please don't throw the song book out just yet. It could just be a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water!!

Only time will tell.

Chris