I'm hoping some of you fellows have some experience with a quandary I'm facing. I have been singing and collecting folksongs since 1949. 14 years ago I lost my handwritten/typed files of songs in a move. But I still had hundreds in the skull memory bank.

My son challenged me six months ago to record my songs on CDs, and to type the lyrics into a computer, from memory! I now have a 200 page manuscript and several CDs in the can. Intend to send them out to friends and relatives.

If I wished to produce a book and CDs for commercial sale, what kind of hassles will I run into re: copyrights? Is there a site or an article some one could suggest for info, or personal experience from a forum reader? What constitutes a public domain song - I know in the sixties many copyrighted PD songs by just changing a few words from previously published collections. If a song is copyrighted (or author known), how do I get permission? Help. guys, I'm dumb on this.