It's as likely as not that Sydney Carter might have sung the verses that way sometimes. He liked to change around the words of his songs, and he didn't mind it when other people did the same with them. "Having made a song you sing it; but to write it is another matter. Particularly if, like me, you seldom sing it the same way twice; fresh possibilities will keep appearing...What you put down, in the end, is nothing but a variant."