I learn songs a verse at a time in my car. It seems to work. I often read lyrics in HearMe because I don't actually know very many songs, and I get screwed up a lot. My personal belief is, if I'm going to do any singing that people have to listen to, in a pub-singing environment, I'd better learn the song. While screw-ups are inevitable and forgivable, not even trying isn't very nice. I'm not a pro and have no intentions of ever getting paid (good thing, you say? :-), but still feel like I should do my best.

I know some singers who have very different versions of songs a year after I first heard them sing them. I think they're so good at "thinking on their feet" that they substitute words for the ones forgotten, which then become the normal way they sing the song. Folk process. I've also rather enjoyed the times a professional singer has forgotten the words, and the entire audience has sung the next verse.