"There is a VAST difference twixt the singer who HONESTLY cant adequately remember all the words to a song , so has a book as an Aide Memoire , and the lazy singer who sings AT THE BOOK held in front of his face because he cant be bloody bothered to learn !!"

There is a small difference - but so what? Good singing demands courage and is something best done without a 'safety net'. The best performances are passionate and committed ones in which the singer knows the tune and the words intimately (otherwise it's just a wooden 'recitation' - and I don't want to spend my evenings listening to wooden recitations). I tried to learn a song recently but I just couldn't seem to be able to force the last couple of verses into my head. Nevertheless, I kept at it until they were learned - only then did I attempt to sing the song in public.

If you genuinely can't learn words, perhaps you shouldn't be singing. After all I've eschewed taking up a career as a lifeguard because I can't swim. Do I, still, have a 'right' to be a lifeguard? I don't think that swimmers in distress would take very kindly to that proposition ...