Okay, I'll be as honest as possible. I regard a song as two art forms, lyrics and melody. I'm telling a story with the lyric and it's a bit like building a pack of cards, every word is carefully, carefully chosen to take the weight of the others, and I feel if one word is changed the whole pack can collapse.I regard the lyrics of my songs as my personal artistic statement and therefore sacrosanct. I have two of my songs recorded by well known artists and they are a disaster because they were so sloppy with the words that by changing two or three they actually changed the complete meaning of the song, and believe me this is possible. I know ego is probably discernable here, but in all honesty I don't think anyone can improve on my lyrics any more than Van Gogh would have thought anyone could improve on his paintings. This is a necessary feeling for being a creative person, the feeling that what you have to offer is unique to you. To some this is misinterpreted as arrogance etc, but my lyrics are my children and I will always protect them. I love the poetry of Philip Larkin, and I love it because I couldn't write it and certainly couldn't improve it, and to try to change it would be a definite arrogance on my part. However, I see the music and the arrangements as more the frame for the picture and I love to hear someone approach the song in a novel way musically and have heard some wonderful things done..one of my favourites being a male voice choir version of "Margarita" from Canada. So to sum up, as a lifelong writer of songs I welcome all sorts of musical innitiatives, but all I ask is, please get the words right, it took me a lifetime of learning to find them.