Phrasing is personal. Or at least I hope it is. I like the idea of just saying the words without the melody. The Men's Chorus I sing in does everything by ear and memorization. We rarely use sheet music. When we learn a new song, our director Dan Williams will have us go through the words, just reciting them a couple of times. Sometimes we do it just from a lyric sheet, or if it's a hymn in the hymnal where we're going to lead the congregation, we'll read from the hymnal, getting the rhythm from the musical notations. At other times, he'll have us go through the music, reciting la, la, la rather than the words. In each case, he's trying to get us to focus on the two basic elements of the hymn... the melody (with rhythm) and the words.

I'd encourage you to break up the lines a little more, Dan and try to sing each word as an individual word, being careful not to run two or three words together. My focus shifts from letting the melody, guitar and images flow to deciphering what the three words in one are. There might be an individual song where you want the words and melody to flow seamlessly for some purpose, but genergally speaking, each word is owed its due.

Think of how you talk and listen to your rhythms. We all break sentences up into phrases, emphasizing words naturally. Singing to a melody is a little different, in that the instrument and melody lay the foundation for the words.

You might also try breaking up the rhythm of your songs. Some songs work fine with a flowing, uninterrupted accompaniment, but be playful with rhythm, too. I think your style tends to be more flowing and unchanging through your songs. That's fine, but I think you should just fool around with rhythm. Not all songs have to have a pronounced rhythm, but some lines and verses just naturally create their own rhtyhm. The example I like to give is from a song titled Haircuts and Attitudes by Timbuk Three. Their style is not yours, but if you just read the following verse through a few times, I think the rhythhm will come naturally:

The wet look, the dry look
The F.B.I. look
Heavy metal goldilocks trying to look tough

In the long run, your own style and the individual song will determine the phrasing.

Jerry