When we think of the term ‘reggae’, the first name that comes into mind is Bob Marley. Marley is by far the most prominent name in the genre and wrote and recorded some of the best songs of all time. One of his best-loved tracks is the iconic ‘No Woman, No Cry’.

The track is featured on Bob Marley and the Wailer’s seventh studio album Natty Dread. Marley had previously recorded with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer as part of the Wailers, but Natty Dread was the first album he recorded without them. The album was widely popular in the UK, selling over 100,000 copies and receiving gold certification.

However, several common misunderstandings surround ‘No Woman, No Cry’. The first is that it is widely believed that Bob Marley wrote the song himself. In fact, the writing credit goes to Vincent Ford, a friend of Marley from Kingston, Jamaica, where Marley grew up. Ford had at least written the song’s melody in a soup kitchen in Trenchtown, and Marley credited Ford with the song’s writing so that he could continue serving the hungry and the homeless.

The second misunderstanding concerns the meaning of the song. It is often believed that the song’s title and its chorus refer to the claim that if you don’t have a woman, then there is no reason to cry. However, in Jamaican patois, the lyric and title are rendered, “No, woman, nuh cry”, which essentially means, “Woman, don’t cry”.

Marley recorded a gospel version of the famous track as an early demo in 1973. It features Peter Tosh on piano and provides a glimpse into the writing of the song’s composition. Stripping back the full instrumentation of the music takes us to the core of the song’s heart.

The track also features Rita Marley, the legendary reggae singer’s widow. She had been a musician herself and performed with the vocal group I Threes, along with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The three would all go on to be backing singers for the Wailers.

The demo gospel version was recorded in London for Island Records when the track ‘Lively Up Yourself’ was also recorded. This marked the last time all three original Wailers, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Neville’ Bunny’ Livingston, recorded together in the studio.