No Woman, No Cry
"No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song was recorded in 1974 and released on the studio album Natty Dread.[2]
This article is about the Bob Marley song. For the 1998 painting by Chris Ofili, see No Woman No Cry (painting). For the 2010 documentary film, see No Woman, No Cry (film)."No Woman, No Cry"
English, Jamaican Patois
25 October 1974
1974
Harry J. Studios, Kingston, Jamaica
3:46
English, Jamaican Patois
"Kinky Reggae"
29 August 1975[1] live version
17 July 1975
7:07
Vincent Ford, Bob Marley (uncredited)
Bob Marley and the Wailers, Steve Smith, Chris Blackwell
The live recording of this song from the 1975 album Live! was released as a single and is the best-known version; it was later included on several compilation albums, including the greatest hits compilation Legend. It was recorded at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 17 July 1975 as part of his Natty Dread Tour.[3]
The live version of the song ranked No. 37 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[4]
In 2005, the live version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[5]
Writing and composition[edit]
Although Bob Marley is widely believed to have written the song,[6][7] or at least the melody,[8] songwriting credit was given to Vincent Ford, a friend of Marley's who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown, the ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, where Marley grew up (he specifically mentions the Government Yards of Trenchtown, a public housing project). The royalty payments received by Ford ensured his efforts would continue.[9]
The original studio version of the song used a drum machine. Jean Roussel provided the arrangement and Hammond organ parts for this recording.
The title and main refrain, "No Woman, No Cry", means "Woman, don't cry".[10] The lyric is sometimes misunderstood outside Jamaica to mean "if there is no woman, there is no reason to cry".[11] The lyric is rendered "No, woman, nuh cry" in Jamaican Patois. The "nuh" is pronounced with a short schwa vowel (a "mumbled" vowel, often represented as "uh" in spelling) and represents a clitic ("weakened") form of "no".