Troube is there are some great covers out there that many (including myself) didn't realise were covers. The BBC recently ran a "covers special" and some were surprising (to me at least). "Rocking all over the world" - Status Quo cover of the Jon Fogerty (Creedance Clearwater Revival) song.
 
Belinda Carlisle's "Girls just wanna have fun" a cover, original by Robert Hazard. "I love rock and roll" that well known "Arrows" number, screwed up by Joan Jet & the Blackhearts. 
 
The classic song "Sailing" by the "Sutherland Brothers Band" later murdered by "Rod Stewart".  Even poor old Barry Manilow who "Writes the songs" didn't. That was a Bruce Johnston song of Beach Boys fame originally released by "Captain & Tennille"
 
Even George Harrison "Got his mind set on you" had it set by "James Ray".
 
There's so many more it could fill a whole forum alone although I concour, there's a lot of pretty poor examples too.

As far as knowing who wrote what and who performed it, things aren't going to get better. 
 
In the old days of vinyl, most of the time, even if you had no interest in knowing, you were exposed to the name of the songwriters one way or another. CD made those harder to read, but the info was there. iTunes and digital download marked the end of that.
 
You could buy the entire Led Zeppelin catalog in digital format and never even know the singer's name. Imagine where that leaves Willie Dixon... 
 
But I don't think there's much interest, anyway. Heck, we've all heard of those kids out there wearing Nirvana and Ramones t-shirt, and who have no clue that those were music bands, not brand names...

FastBikerBoy
Troube is there are some great covers out there that many (including myself) didn't realise were covers. The BBC recently ran a "covers special" and some were surprising (to me at least). "Rocking all over the world" - Status Quo cover of the Jon Fogerty (Creedance Clearwater Revival) song.
 
Belinda Carlisle's "Girls just wanna have fun" a cover, original by Robert Hazard. "I love rock and roll" that well known "Arrows" number, screwed up by Joan Jet & the Blackhearts. 
 
The classic song "Sailing" by the "Sutherland Brothers Band" later murdered by "Rod Stewart".  Even poor old Barry Manilow who "Writes the songs" didn't. That was a Bruce Johnston song of Beach Boys fame originally released by "Captain & Tennille"
 
Even George Harrison "Got his mind set on you" had it set by "James Ray".
 
There's so many more it could fill a whole forum alone although I concour, there's a lot of pretty poor examples too.

People think Paul Simon wrote Scarborough Fair too. Never mind that it's a traditional song, and never mind that Simon brazenly copied the arrangement from Martin Carthy's version. 

Bert Guy
Spacey,
I am only speaking for myself and my values. The only reason I would try to closely imitate an original version of a song would be the situation where I was playing in a tribute band, or something like that. But to actually go to the trouble of spending hours in a studio to try and produce an almost identical version of 'Every Breath You Take'. I honestly don't see the point of such an exercise (why would anyone want to listen to it?), unless you are simply trying to figure out exactly how the Police recorded such an amazing track.n
Bert

That's cool Bert. Not how I read your first post probably because you used "you" and not "I".
 
I can say I'm sure glad there are musicians here that don't look at it as you. Bayoubill has posted some covers that sure were a pleasure to hear. (others too but I favor excellent guitar playing and he's damn sure got that going on)
There's some great music out there to cover whether it be for a learning experience and or just to record for the enjoyment of doing so. Nice to have a place like this to share it and have others critique the works too IMO and very cool to hear how pro musicians handle covers.
I just recently posted about a new release by Bill Frisell (Guitar in the Space Age) where he covers tunes that meant something to him...excellent and sure glad he did it.
 
Personally I've been asked a few times to do covers and it was reason enough for me to enjoy learning the parts I normally wouldn't have spent time doing. Not much different than when I was doing the band thing...had to cover a lot of tunes that I normally wouldn't have spent time with.
There's been times when I was in the writing mode and wouldn't waste my time with a cover but there have also been times when I was focused on learning about recording and didn't want to spend time writing too so a cover fit the bill. I see doing originals and/or covers work fine when the time is right. Nice to mix things up...variety.
 
I sure don't have a problem with how others choose to spend their time or not. Personally I'm glad we're all not the same.
 
 
 

jatoth
 
Scoot, found several
Searched "Jose Feliciano Billy Jean"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qsN1Zc_Lk

Nope, you won't find it on youtube easily, I don''t think it's on there.
 
"There's a version of Billy Jean by Jose Feliciano, solo, not a full band"

Karl's post just reminded me of Creedence Clear Water's version of 'Heard it on the grapevine', that tune steams ahead.

No problem, Spacey, but I did start my original post with : " I think...".
 
However, mega-dittos on Bill Frizzell. I have seen him live three(3) times and I have many of his recordings.
Its interesting (to me) as he has parallel careers, one as a more conventional modern jazz player, and one where he plays in an idiom all his own. In this 2nd style he plays almost entirely covers of popular pop/rock tunes. And these are the type of covers I like the most: recognizable, but distinctive to the point where BF has made the tunes his very own. I enjoy all his stuff (I can hear his voice in everything he does, whether it is an original or a cover), and he is my favorite guitarist, which is saying a lot, because I'm not much of GTR aficionado.
I heard Bill do this one in Carbondale, Colorado a few years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSUwC8hWj8o
The warmth and expression of his tone is quite amazing.
 
Cheers,
Bert
 
 

This is an example of a cover where the singer has internalized a lyric to the point where you feel its part of his DNA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIF4_Sm-rgQ 
I think  Leonard Cohen would say that Jeff Buckley owns this song almost as much as he does. 
 
 
Cheers,
 
Bert

 
No problem, Spacey, but I did start my original post with : " I think...".
 
However, mega-dittos on Bill Frizzell. I have seen him live three(3) times and I have many of his recordings.
Its interesting (to me) as he has parallel careers, one as a more conventional modern jazz player, and one where he plays in an idiom all his own. In this 2nd style he plays almost entirely covers of popular pop/rock tunes. And these are the type of covers I like the most: recognizable, but distinctive to the point where BF has made the tunes his very own. I enjoy all his stuff (I can hear his voice in everything he does, whether it is an original or a cover), and he is my favorite guitarist, which is saying a lot, because I'm not much of GTR aficionado.
I heard Bill do this one in Carbondale, Colorado a few years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSUwC8hWj8o
The warmth and expression of his tone is quite amazing.
 
Cheers,
Bert
 
 
Bert I know you said "I think" and then "you should" - going for- to make it your own.
 
I simply don't believe that is the only approach or reason to do a cover and now after your other posts I don't think you think it is either.
 
 
Sorry about the format...on a laptop that doesn't like me any more than I like it.

Local cover band was playing "Red Red Wine". My friend remarked they were doing a UB40 song. No they were covering UB40, covering Tony Tribe, covering Neil Diamond.
 
Are UB40 the most sucessful cover band of all time? Yet their versions added very nothing to the original reggae versions of the songs they covered. I always found Ally Campbell's mock Jamacian accent annoying.