I don't feel bad about knowing the songs; I don't even feel bad about singing them. But there are audiences it would be unkind to, and even if humpbacks weren't hunted as ruthlessly as the right and sperm whales, seriously, that's just bad manners.

I agree on all counts.

I suppose it's a bit like The Errant Apprentice. It's a grand song and I enjoy singing it,* but it's not a song I'd sing around people from Turkey, or from the Islamicate world in general.

*I really need to get back to work on an accompanied version, so I can sing it in places where a voice without instrumentation gets ignored.