There's something about improv., doing things off the cuff, live music stuff that really makes a song stand out and stick ini.
Even in popular music. Take this song by Shinehead, "Jamaican in Newyork", which is in fact some sort of cover of Sting's "I'm an Englishman in Newyork". It came out when I was in highschool (shineheads song!! not sting's!! :eek: whodya think I am, Lordathestrings???), and I liked it quite a bit. Then a while ago, I got this video, (some reggae thing, I think it's one of those extravaganzas held in Jamaica every year, my cousin loves reggae), and the Shinehead song is in it. It's live. The intro is very different from the original recording. Sung slowly and all that. Makes the song sound very very nice. I don't know if it was rehearsed or done off the cuff, but either way, very nice.