I have twice & thrice as much trouble remembering things I've written, versus the traditional songs that are perhaps 80% of my repertoire, which I find relatively easy to remember even after years of not singing a given song.

I've often wondered why this is. My best guess is that somehow, in my mind, the songs I've written are still fluid, still at least theoretically open to change--what if I altered that line, that phrase, would it work better?--and so they never really quite jell in my head.

Whereas traditional songs, even if fluid (I easily swap verses in and out, etc.), have their own individuality apart from me, so I can grasp them more easily than my own stuff.

Weird. But a real problem when rehearsing and concertizing, because my own songs are, depend on it, the ones where I'll come up short and forget some line or get the verses out of order. I too would be interested in hearing from others who have that problem, and why you think it is.

Bob