Virginia Tam - The song above doesn't really have a title as I've only sung it a couple of times so it doesn't need one yet! (See below*). I've got as far as singing it at my laptop but I don't read/write music so the melody (which is probably an over-complimentary name for it) doesn't exist on paper. (I'm a great believer in the oral/aural transmission of folk!!{I know it's not really "folk" but that's for another thread.}). I see from your other posts that you're planning to be at Sidmouth. I'll be around for much of the festival myself: most of the "bench" at the Middle Bar would be able to point you in my direction so that you can "collect" it then if you want. (I could probably email you something if you're not coming to Sidmouth.)

*Of more relevance to this thread: - Apart from the fact that the song is fairly new, the other reason I haven't sung it much is that I do have to mean, or at least strongly empathise with, what I'm singing. I sing plenty of songs of the countryside which I can relate to, for example, but few sea-songs because I can't get "inside" them.   I can quite happily sing the first four verses of the song I posted but don't like the implied "violent action" of the last two lines. In fact, I think I might try to find a different ending!

I have the luxury of not being paid to sing so I sing for my own pleasure (certainly it's nobody else's!!). However, a bit like FloraG, I do try to take the "audience" into account by selecting songs, from the ones that I feel like singing, to fit the listeners. Nevertheless, if I don't think what I have will suit, I'd rather not sing than choose something that does not match how I'm feeling. I also tend to limit the frequency with which I'll sing a particular song so that it doesn't become stale in my own mind. For example I will only sing Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon a couple of times a year because it's so good I don't want to lose the meaning of it.

We probably all sing for different reasons (possibly several simultaneously) but I'd hate to have to sing a song that I hadn't thought about and didn't believe in/mean. So do I reflect on the material I sing? Not really; I think for me the reflection comes first and that determines what I sing.