Gene... I see that McGuinn learned "Housewife's Lament" many years ago in Chicago. I'd be willing to bet that he altered the melody over time. I prefer to sing all the verses, as it makes a certain ironic point about 'life' and provides a nice coda to the story....but even if you don't, there is one other verse which he left out and which appears in the DT.

"With grease and with grime from corner to center
Forever at war and forever alert
No rest for a day lest the enemy enter
I spend my whole life in struggle with dirt"

(I have always heard that the poem was found in the diary of an old woman about the time of the American Civil War and later set to music...but I cannot confirm this.)