A great performance of No Woman No Cry from Bob Marley. Bob Marley & The Wailers playing No Woman No Cry live at Amandla Festival – Harvard Stadium, Boston MA 07/21/1979. This was one of Bob’s unique shows because was before the geginning of the Survival 1979 tour.
This became Marley’s first hit when it was released as a single from his album, Live!, which was recorded at the Lyceum in London in 1975. It was a hot July night, and they gave a rousing performance. This tour was a breakthrough for Marley and The Wailers.>Their previous tour went horribly, as audiences outside of Jamaica did not appreciate his pure Reggae. He polished and tightened his sound for this tour in order to compete with the slick arena acts that were popular at the time, and got a great response. Glowing reviews led to sold out shows in the US, and by the time the tour hit London, they were a huge success.
The original line of the song is “No, Woman, Nuh cry.” Nuh is Jamacian for “don’t,” so what is meant by the lyric is No, Woman, Don’t cry… He’s leaving and reassuring her that the slum they live in won’t get her down, that everything will be alright and “don’t shed no tear.”
Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry
No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
‘Cause – ’cause – ’cause I remember when a we used to sit
In a government yard in Trenchtown,
Oba – observing the ‘hypocrites – yeah! –
Mingle with the good people we meet, yeah!
Good friends we have, oh, good friends we have lost
Along the way, yeah!
In this great future, you can’t forget your past;
So dry your tears, I seh. Yeah!
No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry. Eh, yeah!
A little darlin’, don’t shed no tears:
No, woman, no cry. Eh!
Said – said – said I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown, yeah!
And then Georgie would make the fire lights,
I seh, logwood burnin’ through the nights, yeah!
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge, say,
Of which I’ll share with you, yeah!
My feet is my only carriage
And so I’ve got to push on through.
Oh, while I’m gone,
Everything’s gonna be all right!
Everything’s gonna be all right!
Everything’s gonna be all right, yeah!
Everything’s gonna be all right!
Everything’s gonna be all right-a!
Everything’s gonna be all right!
Everything’s gonna be all right, yeah!
Everything’s gonna be all right!
So no, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
I seh, O little – O little darlin’, don’t shed no tears;
No, woman, no cry, eh.
No, woman – no, woman – no, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
One more time I got to say:
O little – little darlin’, please don’t shed no tears;
No, woman, no cry.