Bill D. In sing-alongs, having lyrics available enables the entire group to sing a song which otherwise would have been a solo or duet with everyone else listening. When we DON'T use books or lyric sheets in sing-alongs, I often find there's pressure to limit our selections to songs with choruses--which leaves out a lot of great songs.

Rise Up Singing, e.g., has a lot of songs I don't know and would like to learn. When people sing them at a singaround and I can follow along with the book, I learn the song a lot faster than I would just by hearing it sung a couple of times--largely because I am able to join in instead of just listening.

It does annoy me, though, that in some "jam sessions" I go to, people keep their heads buried in the books, even on songs like "This Land Is Your Land!" This tends to interfere with good group singing and jamming, because folks aren't looking at the mouth of the person leading the song--so they tend to jump in too soon or too late on the lines--, and they aren't watching the hands or feet of the lead player--so the rhythm tends to get chaotic. Also, many players miss a great opportunity to LEARN to JAM by insisting that all song sheets have chords printed above every line.

On the other hand, as Kendall mentioned, a song may have chords or chord changes that are not second-nature to you, so sometimes it's nice to have the lyric/chord sheet primarily for the chords. [When I do jazz tunes, unless I play and sing the song often, I tend to forget some of the chord changes. So if it's a song I drag out, say, once a year, I find the chord sheet handy. Again, a split-second glance may be all I need.

Harryoldham, Re "exquisite" lyrics due to the folk process," I would agree that traditional folk material--which probably has umpteen versions already--is generally not harmed by invention that springs from necessity [forgetting the lyrics]. I was referring to songs with known authors. Problem with singers inventing new lyrics onstage is that they get recorded, then they get printed on the net, and pretty soon no one can agree what the real lyrics were. If the songwriter's lyrics were well-chosen to begin with, I find this sad--when the use of a lyric sheet could have kept the song intact.

Genie