". . . my traditional one-breath-per-line phrasing."

That's just bloody ridiculous, WAV. That's like saying that the structure (line length, meter, and rhyme-scheme) of a poem have more importance than its meaning, in which lies its story (if there is one) and its imagery. And meaning and imagery are conveyed, not by following some arbitrary notion such as "one breath per line," it is conveyed by phrasing. And traditional singers do not limit themselves to that "one breath per line" nonsense. Where in blazes did you get that notion? Certainly not by listening with your brain engaged.

No matter how long or short the lines of a poem / song may be, phrase according to what the words mean. I have heard hundreds if not thousands of singers of all kinds and genres—including vast numbers of traditional singers—and that is what those who are anywhere from halfway decent to truly excellent do. It's only the really bad singers who buy into the kind of arbitrary, nonsensical ideas that you seem to cling to.

I must know something about it, WAV, because I've made a living singing in concerts, clubs, coffeehouses, and on television since the late 1950s, I worked for eight years as an on-the-air broadcaster, and recently I have appeared at, and participated in, a series of poetry readings by a real poet, Jana Harris, who has several collections of poems published and a DVD (and possible television show) of the poetry readings in the works. I have also recorded—at his request—several poems by Richard Patrick Gibbons (who wrote Sully's Pail—recorded by Tom Paxton—and a number of other songs) for a CD of his poems that he is preparing for release and soon to be put on a web-site which is currently under construction.

Several people here, who have a vast fund of knowledge, have tried to be helpful to you in your stumbling, bumbling efforts, WAV, but you seem to be oblivious and keep right on with the same brainless braying. I'm beginning to think you are beyond help.

You can lead an ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think!

Don Firth