treewind ,he actually said the only way you can damage a song is by not singing it.
many songs are damaged by oversinging[the wild rover]and require a break for a while because they become hackneyed,or some become damaged by people shouting [up your kilt] in the middle of them,the wild rover again,but they may not be damaged permanently.
and those people who approach the wild rover, for the first time will appreciate what a good song it is,but most of us seasoned performers never want to sing it again,because people have abused it,[the song to our ears is damaged]so Carthy is only partly right.
The best way to honour tradition is to show respect for your material,and try and perform it as well as you can.
good performance should be the ultimate aim of any singer or musician whether he is singing traditional /contemporary /material,and should come above anything else.