I remember Frank Harte saying (at least once!), roughly: "When you sing a song, the best you can hope for is that someone comes up afterwards and says: 'Jeez, that's a great song!'". If, on the other hand, their fist reaction is "Well sung!" or "Yeah, lovely - that's an old Joe Bloggs song, isn't it?" - then you need to keep practicing...

Wherever you get a song, it's all about getting inside it and finding a way that makes it work for you. Listening to the Walter Pardons, Joe Heaneys etc. of this world is part of that - but ONLY part.

Regards