when the live version is the definitive version (No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley & The Wailers)

Joe writes: I used to be militantly opposed to live recordings being released or broadcast because generally, they sound awful. But recently in "researching" my other blog jonimitchellblue.blogspot.com, I learnt that the live version of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi was a bigger hit in the US than the studio version. The live version isn't a patch on the studio version to be honest (it's overlong and doesn't have that delicious laugh at the end), but this got me thinking about songs where the live version is the definitive version. So far the only one I can come up with is No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley & The Wailers.

Many lovers of the song haven't even heard the rather flimsy studio version from the Natty Dread album:

Whereas this live performance has had an incredible number of plays on YouTube:

And this is of course is the definitive version, recorded live at the Lyceum, two miles away from where I'm writing this: