Bobby Bob/Ellan Vannin, thank you for the correction--Del Shannon! Also, what I think I meant by "original" is either a). the person who wrote it who then performs it; or b). the person who did not write it, but recorded the best-known version, by which subsequent recordings would be compared. Does that make sense?

And BlueSage, I agree with what you say: to be totally fair, they are just "different" and not necessarily better but haven't you ever heard a cover and you just like the new one a whole lot better than the old one, from that point on? No disrespect is intended toward the original artist, but taste is taste. That's all I'm saying, not to get too caught up in semantics, here.