"jim you misquoted me"
Sorry Dick, not intentionally - just wanted to warn people away from a mistake I, and I've no doubt thousands of others have made by ruining good songs for themselves by using them as practice pieces.
I honestly believe that anybody can sing unless they have something actually wrong with their vocal equipment - extremely rare.
I also believe that it is relatively simple to get people started on the road to singing by getting them to listen to and explore their own voices.
It doesn't mean they are going to turn unto Muddy Waters or Joe Heaney, but with work I think most people can bring their voices up to a basic standard where they can derive pleasure from giving voice.
In the late 1970s Pat and I embarked on a six-month series of interviews with Ewan MacColl, getting him to talk about his approach to singing - very enlightening.
We put to him the popular idea that by working on a song you take the pleasure out of it - this was his reply.
Make's sense to me.
Jim Carroll

"Now you might say that working and training to develop your voice to sing Nine Maidens A-milking Did Go or Lord Randall is calculated to destroy your original joy in singing, at least that's the argument that's put to me from time to time, or has been put to me from time to time by singers who should know better.
The better you can do a thing the more you enjoy it. Anybody who's ever tried to sing and got up in front of an audience and made a bloody mess of it knows that you're not enjoying it when you're making a balls of it, but you are enjoying it when it's working, when all the things you want to happen are happening. And that can happen without training, sure it can, but it's hit or miss. If you're training it can happen more, that's the difference. It can't happen every time, not with anybody, although your training can stand you in good stead, it's something to fall back on, a technique, you know. It's something that will at least make sure that you're not absolutely diabolical
The objective, really for the singer is to create a situation where when he starts to sing he's no longer worried about technique, he's done all that, and he can give the whole of his or her attention to the song itself she can give her or he can give his whole attention to the sheer act of enjoying the song."