The bloodless reading of "drift away" by I believe Hootie and the blowfish. Dobie Gray must roll in his grave everytime that piece of dreck hits the airwaves.
ain't got no soul: bad covers of great soul songs
Many a great soul track has suffered some truly egregious desecration. The single example that comes most readily to mind is Huey Lewis's rendering of Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'". Ouch! Rememeber folks, this question does not depend on any emphemeral concepts such as race. To be sure, I'll take Dusty's version of "Son of a Preacher Man" over Aretha's any day. For that matter, limey whiteboys such as Elvis Costello and Paul Weller display a far more instinctive grasp of soul than does, for example, Bobby Brown. Don't disappoint me, I am sure that you can name some real atrocities.