There's always (seems to me) a residual problem in singing some period songs where the sentiments of the time were less socially sensitive than today. I sing Gus Elen's "A Nice Quiet Day - The Postman's Holiday" which has as the first line Now I works just like a n*gg*r and I isn't very strong. It's just possible, I suppose, to present the song honestly, in the acceptance that what you're singing is historically and socially correct in the full knowledge that "we all know it's wrong". Perhaps... I always sing Now I works just like a navvy and always have done, even in sensitive and understanding song circles. Apart from that first line, it's a great and very funny song - and worth singing.

If you look at the performance and written sheet music history of popular songs from the 1900s onwards, you'll generally see that they've been changed to match the sensitivities of the time. A line in the song Moonlight Bay has changed in both written and performed versions from You could hear the darkies calling to You could hear the people calling. And rightly so, in my view - it would be crass to sing the original version, for any audience. So why do people do it? Just unthinking? Stupid?

Mind you, I once started to sing Oh Mr. Wu was a laundry man... without realising there were half a dozen Chinese people in the front row of the audience. The band cracked up - and they never let me forget it.