Well said as usual reggie!

I'm not generally into changing lyrics... unless I wrote what I'm singing... but sometimes I'll get it wrong when I learn it, and then it's a struggle to 'make it right'... The problem I have with changing lyrics is basic... the song speaks for itself, and when we sing it, we are presenting someone else's experience and message. If you really need to change the lyrics in order to sing it, why not just write a new song that more explicitly describes your 'take' on things?

which brings me to the 'point'...

I can't 'be' someone else, but I can present a song that recreates a possible scenario, for the learning experience... The songs many of us sing about intolerable situations are, for me, moral scenarios and lessons that enlighten us about the 'inevitable' consequences brought about by unseemly behavior... curb those righteous feeling passions, you animal!

It is not condonement that I feel, but the powerful warning that empathy and disgust provide. You be the judge... you decide... each and every one... I strongly believe that these songs can stimulate a deeper questioning with which to cleanse our moral fabric, and come to terms with our own individual views. Catharsis. Each and every one of us can do it! ttr