I cannot speak for anyone but myself here but I guess I'll chime in...

I have used words on paper (nowadays on my iPad) a couple of times in the past. The most recent was in a house concert where all the attendees were dear friends and it was a new song that wasn't completely, but mostly memorised. I took the risk, because the song was such a good one and I knew these folks would enjoy it. The other time was in a UK folk club where I wanted to commemorate an historical event that happened in the USA 100 years ago on that day and, again I had not completely memorised the song. I felt that both occasions were important enough to use the "crutch" of written lyrics.

For myself as a singer and an interpreter of songs, it is important to me to have my selections completely memorised and internalised to perform them. The song has to become a part of me so I can tell the story. Since I make my living at performing, this is a way of setting my own high standards so that an audience who has paid their hard-earned money to see me gets the best that I can give.

Except for the situations above, I perform all my repertoire from memory. This has also led to some hilarious ad-libs when I have forgotten lyrics. It does happen and we all move on. I find audiences quite forgiving when the memory does fail.

Deb Cowan