Olddude,
There's absolutely nothing inherently wrong with the phrasing in the song I heard thanks to the soundclick link you provided above. Nothing in your performance distracted me from the meaning, the story, the music. As a listener, any so-called imperfections only bother me when they interfere with being transported by the performance. I was transported the whole time, ergo nothing wrong!

Okay, so if you still want to phrase differently, certainly work/play with all the stuff that's been suggested already. I sing barbershop a lot as well as accompanied folkish stuff and I can attest to the fact that it IS easier to phrase according to the lyrics without a clockwork accompaniment than with one.

Following up on EKanne's and Tom Bliss' suggestions to practise freely speaking the lyrics: If there is a barbershop quartet or chorus in your neighbourhood (men's or women's) that's in the process of working up a slow tune, go have a listen. In that genre there is a great amount of push-pull of the rhythm of the slower tunes (for some reason they rarely do it as much with up-tempo songs). Anyway, if that option is open to you, you'll witness a room chock full of people struggling against the urge to sing according to even pulses, instead trying to use something much closer to speech rhythms. The lesson being that it's not an easy change to make. Keep in mind how many times you've sung songs in the clockwork kind of rhythm. You can expect to need more repetitions the new way to make it automatic despite nerves.

Good luck whatever interpretive paths you choose!

~CH.