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There are a handful of songs that are defined by a particular live version. Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” is arguably in this category — the live version from Wings Over America gets much more radio play than the original from McCartney, although both are certainly popular. The live “Statesboro Blues” that appears on the Allman Brothers Band’s At Fillmore East is a cleaner fit — it’s probably the only version you’ll ever hear of the song, unless you seek out some old blues records. More interesting than these is Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.”

The first time I heard “No Woman, No Cry” was years ago, on the greatest hits collection Legend. The liner notes mentioned that it was a 1975 live recording from the Lyceum in London. Since they didn’t credit Marley as the songwriter, and since the Legend version was the only one I ever heard on the radio, I figured it was similar to “Statesboro Blues” — a popular live cover that didn’t have a studio version.

After a few listens, I found a hole in this theory: people were singing along. And not only that, but they were singing along incorrectly.

On the Legend version that I had, Marley and band were singing with an upbeat, syncopated rhythm. They left the first beat empty, coming in with a staccato “No” on the second. The crowd, however, was belting out “Nooooo” on the first beat. In short, their singing didn’t match up with Marley’s. Clearly they knew the song from somewhere, and the version they were familiar with was different from what they were hearing that night.

And, as I just confirmed with some Google sleuthing, that’s exactly what was going on. Marley’s 1974 release Natty Dread featured the original “No Woman, No Cry,” with the simplified rhythm; the live version was recorded and released the following year on the album Live!, and immortalized on Legend in 1984. So, moral of the story — listen carefully.