This is one of those interesting threads where there is a genuine case for every side of the discussion, just depends on personal preference and ability when it comes down to it.

I play material I've mostly picked up from other performers but I find most satisfaction when I go back to the original a few weeks/months/years after learning it and find how much it's evolved into my own. Occasionally I've moved very little from the original but I'll still preform it, my voice will always be different from the original anyway, sometimes it's just a bit harder to move away from the original guitar arrangement, probbaly because it was so good in the first place. Hopefully never 'karaoke' but I can live with the influence being apparent to the listener.

Just sing whatever you like and in whatever manner you like I say, there's enough of us around to keep everyone happy some of the time..