I basically agree with Harvey Andrews.....if you don't like the song the way it was written, find a different song! We do know there is no way to stop folks from messing with them, but we don't have to like it! Subtle changes in tempo & phrasing are one thing, wholesale alteration is quite another.

Yes, I know, the 'folk process' happens, even if it is inadvertent, and I will 'occasionally' change a word myself,(though, if I were a recording/performing artist, I would NOTE what I did)...my objection is to gratuitous change JUST to make "Freddie Folksinger's" version different and highlight his style.

You have all seen and heard singers who don't look for a "good song to sing", but rather for a "song that makes me look good". And very rarely do they improve anything.

Now, I do have to say...*sigh*...I have heard songs that just simply sounded like the author had a good idea (maybe a catchy chorus) but never polished and crafted it. The temptation to 'fix' it can get unbearable to some, I suppose. I just don't know what to say about this....again, if I were a recording artist, I'd contact the author and ask and discuss before I did anything 'public' with it.

No easy answer, folks...music is such a subjective thing and we ALWAYS put something of ourselves into it, no matter what the origin.

(By the way, Harvey...having listened to the MP3 of "First You Lose the Rhyming", I must say, I think the guy I mentioned in the other thread who sings it stays VERY close to how you do it!..If there are changes, I don't hear them.)...