I'd like to pick up on something Captain Birdseye said at the end of one his last posts.

I can't sing to save my life - I know that - and nothing (other than a massive bribe) would induce me to get up in front of a paying audience and sing, because I'm a long way from good enough. But that doesn't stop me having a go in the anything-goes-pub-singaround environment, and I'm rarely the worse singer there.

It's the issue of reading from a sheet/score/whatever that I find interesting. Due to a combination of a fairly good memory and sheer bloody-mindedness I tend to learn everything I play or sing; this isn't snobbishness, because I honestly don't go puce green with rage everytime I see the same singers reading off lyrics/chords sheets. But I've found that - for me,anyway - reading/glancing/staring at any sort of sheet music or lyrics while I'm trying to sing, usually has an inhibiting effect that's harder to break than actually learning the song in the first place.

The one terrifying point about doing it this way, though, is that when your mind does go blank, and the words have disappeared like frost in strong sunlight - there's no escape route, other than singing another verse, or even another song. But - of course - just try remembering one.

Glad I'm a rank amateur.