I was having a conversation with a guy that was at a folk club gig we played at recently. (This is post gig by some months). He didn't remember that we only played tunes all night, he was sure that we must have sung some songs. Was this because we kept his attention with the stories inbetween the tunes, or because we treat our tunes as if they were songs. Who knows. I was very chuffed by his comment anyway.
We are adding songs to our repertoire for next season, but that's because we want to sing and not because other people want us to.
I find it hard to listen to lyrics anyway, it's the melody, chords and accompaniment that keeps my attention. I do remember though at a session recently singing along to a song that a friend of mine was singing and the guy leading it turning round and saying, "that was very nice but this is tune session and we're meant to be playing tunes that we can all join in with". we can't win really, songs or tunes!
:-))
Vicki