I very occasionally take a traditional tune and give it a twist here and there. There was a wonderful CD by Dick Lee and Hamish Moore called "The Bees Knees" - came out around 1990 or thereabouts - where they ran some rings around traditional tunes, including a superb ramble around "Staten Island" on two high whistles in D.

I recently did a little "homage" to that track with guitar and tenor guitar - it usually brings a smile to faces in clubs (probably for the wrong reasons) - and, if you're interested, you can see it here. I've buggered about with the key (G instead of D), added the odd Eb7 chord here and there, and inserted several extraneous notes!