Having the words in front of you is a safety net. Or rather it's like a safety harness an acrobat has in case of a fall.

It's there in case you need it, so that it takes the tension off - and that means you are tat much less likely to fall and actually use it.

Reading the words - as opposed to having them there, and checking if you need to - while I'm singing, I find puts up a barrier between myself and the song, and between the myself and any listeners. It's a stage we might have to go through while we're working in a new song, or singing one we haven't sung in a long time, but it shouldn't be the place we live.

It's nothing to do with singing involving some kind of memory test we've got to pass, it's to do with communication. Imagine telling a story to a few friends, and how it'd feel if you had to read it off the page word by word.

Closing the eyes is another thing. I think a lot of us find it more natural, rather than being an affectation.

There may be cultural, differences here in what feels more natural.It's definitely the way a lot of traditional singers in all parts of the British Isles hhave always done it. Opening the eyes and looking at people feels much more as if the singer is saying the focus should be on them rather than on the song.

(There's an inconsistency between my emphasising that it's all about communication, and then saying closing the eyes is quite acceptable - I point this out because otherwise someone else will. So who's consistent?)