Aligning multiple verses to alternative notes in the melody

[Frederick Bartlett]

Hi!

I have a song with irregular verses; I want to show the alternative notes in the melody and align some verses to one alternative and some to the other.

I can come close by using '_' and the "divisi lyrics" instructions, but the alignment is not perfect.

What I want is something like this:

4 4 4/8 8 4 | 4 4/8 8 4 4
a b c     d   e f     g h
    a   b c   d e   f g h

where '4's are quarter notes, '8's are eighth notes, and '4/8's are both.

Here's a snippet:

firstVerse = \lyricmode {  a b c d e f g h }

skippy = #(define-music-function (parser location syllables) (number?)
   #{ \repeat unfold $syllables { \skip 1 } #})

LL = { \once \override LyricText #'self-alignment-X = #LEFT }

secondVerse = \lyricmode { \skippy 2 \LL a_b c d \LL e_f g h }

melodyMusic = \relative c'' {  c4 c4 << { \voiceOne c4 } \new Voice = "split" { \voiceTwo c8 [ c8 ] } >> c4 | c4 << { \voiceOne c4 } \new Voice = "split" { \voiceTwo c8 [ c8 ] } >> c4 c4 \bar "|." }

\new Staff = "voice" <<
  \new Voice = "melody" << \voiceOne \global \melodyMusic>>
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" \firstVerse
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" \secondVerse
>>

Thanks!
Fred