Just an observation. The term "memorize" is loaded with negative connotations for many people. It's very different than "learn." Just memorizing something sounds boring as hell, and brings back memories of having to memorize crap in school that you never ended up using. Memorizing seems to suggest just learning something by rote without internalizing or personalizing it. On the other hand, "learning" implies to me gaining an understanding, and appreciation for something. You can learn a traditional song, or song written more recently in such a way that it becomes "your" song, expressing your feelings, without changing a word. The reason why I love traditional music so much is not that it's musty, or outdated or needs rewriting. For me, a traditional song takes me back to a time and place I could never visit, and in learning it, I can experience the song very personally. An example:

Spring of '65

I woke up one morning in the Spring of 65
I thought myself quite lucky to be found alive
I geared up my mules, my business to pursue
Instead of hauling four loads, I only hauled two

I would have no clue as to how to rewrite that verse to make it more accessible to people. I also have no need to rewrite it. I have awakened many times in my life and thought I was quite lucky to be found alive. I've never geared up mules, but I've tackled my work for the day, feeling inadequate to the task. I've had days when I only hauled two loads, instead of four. I could go through each verse of the song and explain why I can identify with the singer and the setting, and I love it that I feel brought back to a more rural life, feeling the rhythm of the days. And I can relate to it, without wanting to change a word.

For each of us, we can only speak for ourselves, no matter how objective we like to think we are. Simply speaking for myself, I enjoy "getting in" to a song, as it exists. If there is more than one version of the song, I may end up combining verses from different versions... a practice as old as the songs themselves. If others find more pleasure in changing songs, good for them. It just ain't me, Babe.

But, that said, I learn songs. I don't memorize them.

Jerry