'Mr. Lonely'

Just the other day while working out I caught a catchy sounding tune playing in the background. It went: 'Lonely, I'm so lonely, I have nobody, to call my own' in a high pitched, chipmunk-ish voice. I was captivated, and I searched for it.

It came up as Akon: Lonely. Fair enough, I downloaded it. It was okay overall, although that it was hip-hoppish which scored minus points. But then I had gotten more information: that that chipmunk chorus had been sung by Bobby Vinton before in a song called 'Mr. Lonely', albeit without the high squeakiness. I promptly downloaded Vinton's version as well.

How were they different? Akon was 'singing' about a girl who had deserted him and all that. Yawn. More minus points. I listened to Vinton's, and it was beautiful. It was a song about how leaving to battle during World War 2 had affected the love lives of (some?) soldiers.

Once I knew the background about the original, I couldn't help but to feel that Akon's version was nothing more than a cheapened version of Vinton's, and took away the true meaning of the original song. Yet another pathetic exploitation of a classic? Or a cash cow copy-cat attempt, especially with the catching (if annoying) chorus?