Thanks Earl - I know it's not my best work, but I think I did OK for an old fart living on less than 20 percent of his lung capacity and shaky hands.

Merry Christmas,

Gary

Morning, Earl, Gary, Donny and Don:

Interesting reading and listening to a guy who never performs. Donny's point about smiling while playing has to be a really key ingredient. Of course, without real talent, all the smiles in the world will not bring an audience into the realm of the song being played.

Don, I was impressed with your work ethic... getting all those lyrics written down... and then wearing out your fingers getting them into a word processor. I hope you have access to a database for sorting them in just about any way you prefer... assuming you set up "targets" on each Lyric Page for the DB to use in sorting.

Gary, most of us remember your fantastic vocal delivery and KB work from years past. Life isn't fair... but you've never let it hold you back. You are an inspiration to us all.

Earl... I know you've tapped into a rich resource for advice with these three stalwarts of the "Zone"... and I wish you success as you pursue being a KB performer/artist.

Merry Christmas, All... ----Dave

Dave, they are just in a word processor, like MS Word. Now Libre.
I can sort by name, artist, genre...
I actually have two sets. One is in .doc format, the other in .txt format. I use the text files on the arrangers, since they won't read .doc. Can't sort on the arranger, but you can make various folders, like Christmas, Oldies, Standards, etc., if you want.
It has taken me about 50 years to build all this. It would be much easier to do it now.
Not sure I'm ready to share the entire thing, but I will gladly share individual songs.

I feel the same way Don...
You have to do your own music homework lots of time and efforts are a personal thing not easily shared.

...and they are ALL readily available on line. You have to personalize the chords and lyrics, but you would have to do that with mine anyway.
Just Google "Song Name Lyrics Chords".

I posted this recently, but here is a WORLD of great charts.
https://www.ozbcoz.com/Songs/index.php?instr=guitar

Hi Don & Donny:

I hope you did not think I was asking for anything song lyric related. LOL! I was thinking of Earl's question to Don and simply "chimed-in" to be of assistance in offering ways to accomplish what Earl needs... if anyone volunteered. My mistake! (Please read my "credo" below!) Seems like I'm developing "Hoof and Mouth" disease here at the "Zone!" Sorry!

Your work in collecting and cataloging all those songs is a lifetime of work and I know and appreciate that. I've spent what seems like a lifetime developing more than a thousand of my own originals. The cataloging process (plus baggage that goes with it... such as dealing with ASCAP and the Copyright Office) takes more time than the song-writing and recording.

I am proceeding to the chalk-board now and will begin writing, "I promise to keep my big mouth shut!" at least 100 times." LOL!

On a brighter note, I'm sure happy for the LSU Quarterback getting the Heisman. (SP?)

----Dave

Dave, here's one of my files, about 650 to 700 songs in this one, mostly lyrics, but some with chords over the words. Free for to anyone that wants them. https://app.box.com/s/8bwjhtworydlzehmynry06tut0wsfta9 About 30 years of work, pretty much the same way DonM did it. I began with a bunch of 3-inch looseleaf binders, then transcribed all these into Word Perfect, then later converted them to MS Word. If you open them in Word Pad, they will open as a text file if you designate this. Made life so easy when I was on stage.

Gary

Thanks. This is awesome!

Thank you all. I especially appreciate the link to Jims songbook. I have also been using https://www.classic-country-song-lyrics.com// Don't remember who turned me onto that site but it has been really good for me finding the old gems.