I'm afraid, squeak, the more versions an artist does of a song, the happier I am! I never want to do a note-for-note cover of ANYTHING, and if the artist themselves seems to have that approach, too... So much the better!

At least no-one will ever come up to you and say you suck because you do it differently!

I always try to get inside the 'soul' of a piece of music, NOT the notes. Unless you have the same line-up, and the same instruments, the notes, even if you play them, won't do the same thing, anyway... But once you capture the spirit of the tune, it's amazing how far away from the original you can go, and everybody still 'gets' it.

Give yourself permission to be as free with a song as the artist does... You'll be happier for it.