Ah, Terry (aka Leadfingers), I believe that "song thieves" like you and I have multiple functions. Among them: to introduce the audience to songs that they might never hear; to remind them of songs that they have forgotten; to encourage them to sing along (sometimes verse as well as chorus) to songs that they know and/or love.

What I find depressing are the singers and musicians at sessions (and in more formal Clubs) who sing or play the same song or tune that they have sung or played innumerable times before to exactly the same audience and seem unable to sense that they are boring the pants off most of those within earshot! There's a world of difference between 'Old Fred's known for his killer version of "Lord Randall"' and the almost silent sigh that says 'Oh, no, not "Lord Randall" again!!' and it boils down to being sensitive to the audience. In the end there is a danger of the session or club degenerating into a circle of singers or musicians effectively playing for themselves or, at best, each other.

Even if you are not blessed with the ability to write your own material, you can learn to perform a new song or tune now and then, or, if you've been around as long as Leadfingers and me, revive something that you haven't done for a while from the depths of your repertoire.

One of the great things about a live performance is its unpredictability either in content or presentation. If there is nothing new or different on offer, this is lost, and the audience might as well stay at home and listen to studio recordings. It's great to hear a performer perform a favourite song when you haven't heard it for a while, not so great if it has been staled by repetition.

What the above ramblings are supposed to impart is the thought that it is important to consider the audience when you are performing, no matter how small the gathering, otherwise all too soon there will be no audience. They are your reason for being there - without them you easily find that a solo ego trip is a lonely ego trip.

Alan