Well, Nick, as I was sitting next to you when you sang it, I have an opinion!

Did anyone really say you sang it BETTER than your guitar accompanied songs? I heard a lot of compliments for how you sang THAT song and, as everybody joined in with gusto, there was a shared feeling of enjoyment of the performance. But that might not be the same thing as YOU singing it better than your accompanied songs.

You also sang a number of accompanied songs last night and while you were singing I was thinking what a good voice you have and how you have developed it over the last year or so. IMO you sang the shanty well, but you sing your other stuff better. This is not necessarily a measure of how much everyone else enjoys the accompanied stuff but they certainly do - I can think of several songs over the last few weeks you have sung that have met with raucous applause (John Prine, Richard Thompson etc).

I think the dilemma is also around what you think others might enjoy as much as what you want to sing. I changed two of my songs last night on the spur of the moment because a) I wanted to sing something lung-busting, b) I felt underprepared on one I had rehearsed c) I wanted to do a cover version people knew. So some of that is what I want to do and some what others might enjoy. But all of them were songs I like. Occasionally I might sing a song I don't like if I have my arm twisted but if that became the norm I would stop doing it.

Good thread though!