A song murdered by someone.

Sometimes "murdering" a song can be as much about changing it as it is about doing a really bad rendition. In the case of Cohens Hallelujah, you may have seen the video of the little school girl in Ireland (?) who redid it as a Christian song. It went virile. The backlash was the fear that the latest version might eclipse the original. Other times an artist can breath life into a song that was badly needed. Arlo Guthrie put Steve Goodman on the map with the remake of "City of New Orleans". Steve Goodman was grateful for that.

My selection features a great voice/skilled singer who fully "180 degrees" missed the point of the song. The song is "Pretty Women", from Stephen Sondheim’s musical "Sweeney Todd".  It is about lust and the singer’s desire to kill and eat the girls he’s ogling. The original was sung (very effectively) by Len Cariou, who has no voice at all. Here’s how you butcher a song:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=876_HQr4ePE

This thread reminded me of a favorite cover for reasons of self-satire:  Julie London singing "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" - - she makes it positively pornographic with her lingering diction.  (Not that the original was any kind of "classic" that makes this a scandalous alternative!)

The Turtles’ cover of “Like A Rolling Stone” 

Just about anything from Rod Stewart’s “Great American Songbook” series.  

Tom Waits?!?!  Can’t be judged the same way.  Unique artist. Besides, he writes most of his own material.