Songs ain't written in stone. They're written in words, notes, sounds, syllables, phrases.

It's easy to tell from a song when it has been painstakingly crafted, either lyrically or melodically, and it's kind of a sin to betray the composer's hard work and intention and mess with that. However, if the alternative is that the song is never heard...

Trad stuff I have no qualms about hacking apart and throwing back together in a way that suits me--the folk process at work.