Hi Bob,

I sympathise, but personally I found the following way around always singing original lyrics:
- Sometimes I sing the original song. In that case I want to get every syllable and sound right, including American pronunciation or British pronunciation.
- Other times I sing an interpretation of the original, In that case I usually try to make the song sound to my audience the way the original would have sounded to the original audience.

Mudcatters with more performances under their belt may have better approaches to your dilemma, but I'd go for the second option here. I don't think Stevens intended to put in a giggle word for his audience there, so you should feel free not to sing one either.

Bye
                                                                Mysha