Not all the time, but often enough. Sometimes changing a word or line can make something truer to my experience, or I'll prefer it aesthetically.
I don't understand why modifying someone else's song for your own performance would be problematic, unless you're actually stealing it and calling it your own. I think I'd lose a lot of respect for any artist I heard was offended by something like that (i.e., aside from being offended by someone covering their work without permission to begin with--a different question, though also kind of a dumb thing to get mad about, as long as they're credited--and likewise aside from monetizing and distributing a recording of one of their songs, lyrics changed or unchanged, which I'd see as a much more valid concern).
On the other hand, I usually won't make any changes if it's just a matter of gender-specific stuff, especially when it breaks up the flow of the line, which it often does.
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