Surely there must be some rules musn't there? If I go to a folk club I would not expect a 20 minute overture from a baroque opera (Is there one?) and conversely when I pay £25 for a ticket to see Status Quo I would not expect Rambling Sid Rumpo. Mind you. they did tour with Steeleye Span! If you want somewhere with no rules at all start a free form Jazz club:-)

But before we are led into yet another flight of fancy, I am not sure what rules have to do with song books or this question anyway though. No-one has suggested that there are any hard and fast rules applied anywhere. Quite the opposite really in as much as everyone, I think, has said they may or may not like song books but leave it to other people whether they use them or not.

DeG