You sing a song - and really you don't know what will happen. sometimes you waste weeks doing songs that you like, but you will always sound rubbish singing. Its all a bit hit and miss. Of course as you get older, you get more insight into what you can do and what you can't.

And really its no use bitching that someone doesn't do the kind of music you think is valid. If they've got any sense of music or artistic endeavour at all - people should sing what they can. Nothing worse than someone who doesn't understand the nature of their own talent. For we all have talent, but the gift of thoroughly understanding the nature of one's talents to exploit your ability fully is pretty rare.

So i'd say - if you want to sing The Banks of the Nile - go for it. Be prepared to work hard, and listen hard to the performances that have moved you -extract what you can - but bear in mind that what you bring to the table is not what the late Peter Bellamy or Sandy Denny brought - hopefully you will have a new bag of tricks to entertain and delight with - your own.

But be prepared to back off if you can't get it to 'snap' for you.