A song murdered by someone.

Dylan beats Eric Burdon’s version but they are both good. Joan Baez sang a good version, Andy Griffith not so much.

Great point, @Larryi, about the legitimacy and appropriateness of disparate interpretations of great songs. And the version of "Unchained Melody" by Sam Cooke is indeed very nice IMO.

FWIW, while I recognize and respect the fact that the version by the Righteous Brothers is to many people the standard bearer, the main reasons I prefer Al Hibbler’s version to it are two-fold:

1) To me, the Righteous Brothers’ recording comes across as excessively "mannered," defined in this context as "overelaborate in delivery." While many people may interpret that as contributing to soul, to me it just detracts from the beauty of the song. For that song, at least, I prefer a more straightforward and unembellished interpretation.

2) To me, Al Hibbler has a better and more appealing voice than Bobby Hatfield.

In any event, as N80 aptly said earlier, "... its music. People like what they like."

Best regards,
-- Al

Linda Ronstadt-Desperado

I mentioned earlier Jackie Wilson's "Danny Boy."  I cannot begin to express how much of a contradiction is that performance--overwrought, corny, excessively showy and cheesy, and it doesn't help that the song is a tired warhorse--but, I cannot think of too many more amazing vocal demonstrations than this performance:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS9xhiudphU

try ella fitzgerald doing mack the knife...that keeps a smile on my face