From the 50s through the 80s, albums were recorded on magnetic tape. This was still the case in the 90s, but by then, the industry was beginning the change to digital recording. In the age of tape, songs were often sped up slightly to keep them under three minutes for radio play. Unlike digital recordings, speeding up the tape raises the pitch of the song. This results in songs that are "between" the standard keys. One example is Joe Meek's Telstar, recorded by the Tornados in 1962. It's too sharp for the key of A and too flat for the key of Bb.
I've been learning the songs from the album Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel. I start by learning each song in the original key and then transposing to a key where I can sing. As I did this, I discovered an interesting thing, The songs on the album are in unusual keys. It seems that in some songs, like The Boxer. The song plays easily in the key of C but on the record it is in the key of B, leading me to think the guitars may have been tuned down. There is a Wikipedia entry where Fred Carter Jr. describes recording the boxer with Paul Simon and it explains a lot about why it can be difficult to play this song. In some songs, the tape speed may have been changed. This is evident in Cecilia, where the song is too sharp for they key of B and too flat for the key of C.
This brings us to the question: When covering a song, does one try to duplicate the original vibe, or does one re-interpret? I don't think it's important, it's just something a performer might want to consider. In the case of BOTW, I'm going for the original vibe, but using the players and singers available to me will make it sound different. This difference would be like imagining a painting as a photograph, or a drawing as a sculpture. It brings a new perspective to the work.