Sandman says:

1. You need to analyse why your memory fails you, and learn tricks to overcome it.
2. You need to learn to ad lib and keep going, remember the story line and the rhyming scheme, this partly what performing is about, it is much the same with tunes one sometimes make a mistake but it is knowing how to deal with the mistake, that is partly the art of performance

You know, I sing songs for the fun of it. I've never performed for a paying audience, and I never intend to. I do have a number of songs committed to memory, but I like to try new stuff. Most of the people I sing with, don't have the expectation that songs be fully memorized, and yet we are able to have a wonderful time singing together.

So, generally, I just don't sing with people if their expectations are higher than what I'm comfortable with. Screw 'em.

-Joe-