We can’t possibly play music without some iconic version in our head.

Buco

Knowing the lyrics in order to follow the changes and know your way around the tune sounds like a great idea. Only thing is, it becomes yet another thing to study, learn and memorize, as if we already don't have enough to work on.

Russell Letson

Not so much study and memorize as make the music part of one's life. Of course, I grew up with the Great American Songbook, and it remained central to my musical imagination right alongside folk and rock and jazz. I live inside those tunes because they live inside of me. It's not going to school--they are the school, as much as Shakespeare or the Marx Brothers or Laurel & Hardy or Bob Hope.

Jazzaferri

Amen