Scanning pop songs

As I mentioned in class, I was trying to find some instances of contemporary songwriters who wrote longer lines. The ballad stanza reeks so much of "tradition," as I mentioned, that a songwriter takes it on at her/his own risk (my Leonard Cohen example of a ballad about a balladeer also had those notable variant lines). I did find it possible to read Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" (from the album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot") as a mostly iambic pentameter poem:

6 I am an Am-e rican aqua- rium drinker
5 I as- sassin down the avenue
5 I'm hi- ding out in the big city blinking
5 What was I thin- king when I let go of you?

5 Let's for- get a- bout the tongue-tied lightning
5 Let's un- dress just like cross- eyeeeed strangers
5 This is not a joke, so please stop smiling
6 What was I thin- king when I said it did n't hurt?

5 I want to glide through those brown eyes dreaming
5 Take it from the inside, baby hold on tight
5 You were so right when you said I've been drinking
5 What was I think- ing when I said good night?

But here's the rub: when you actually listen to the song, Jeff Tweedy heavily accents only FOUR beats per line. It's almost as if the ballad tradition reasserts itself in spite of the way the lines split up on paper. Thus is my transcription of the performance I hear on the album:
4 I am an American aquarium drinker
4 I as- -sassin down the av- e-nue
4 I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
4 What-was I thinking when I let go of you?