The meaning of “No Woman No Cry” is now controversial in Japan. “No Woman No Cry” is a title of a song written by Bob Marley, a famous Jamaican Reggae artist. I’ve thought that the meaning is “There is no woman who does not cry”. However, someone says the meaning is “Women! Do not cry !”. I’d like to know the explanation by English native speakers. Thank you.
No Woman No Cry
June 17th, 2004 by sumi (Japanese)
120 Responses to “No Woman No Cry”
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why did he not write the lyric ,No woman nuh cry in the first line then make it easy to the listener by writing the next line as No woman don't cry…….compromise, no need to sell out
HAHA why would Bob Marley be talking about not having a woman? He had MANY woman, and stayed married to Rita through it all. I think this song is to the people he stayed with in Trenchtown, like "Georgie". I assume Rita is the woman he's addressing. This song is about pushing through despite struggle and finding tha strength in your hope for the future. Bob says that "everythings gonna be alright" because tha struggle you are goin through right now will soon become the past you can't forget in your bright future. Idk about other supposed meaning where people are saying that the queen is the woman & its a song about protests. They used to sing in the yard in Trenchtown, I didn't know anything about protest. Bob & Rita were shot because of politics but I don't think this song is political.
Thank you Guys, you gave me light.
No woman, please don't cry, it's gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be alright.
This is typically a sentence proving the importance of punctuation..
“no, woman, no cry” means “don’t cry woman”, BUT “no woman, no cry” means that if there were no woman, people wouldn’t cry.. a very different outcome.. and finally without any comma: “no woman no cry”, well this leads to the other interpretation evoked in ur post: there is no woman who does not cry..
I’m sure that it means, “Don’t cry, woman.” The initial “no” in “No Woman No Cry” is not a denial but for emphasis. Also, remember that Marley is using the Jamaican dialect of english. The title should be read, “Woman No Cry.”
The lyrics of the song make it absolutely clear that the idea in Bob Marley’s mind is that “No, woman; no cry” is an imperative:
In this great future, you can’t forget your past;
So dry your tears, I say.
No, woman, no cry;
No, woman, no cry.
here, little darlin’,
don’t shed no tears:
No, woman; no cry.
If you actually listen to the song he is saying “No Woman, don’t cry.” Jamacian accents are hard to understand if you are not from Jamaica. The Japanese just need to chill out because this song means he doesn’t want to see a woman cry because there is no reason for it. In his wife’s book “No Woman, No Cry” she explains what he means in the prolouge:
“I had put his head in my arm, and I was singing “God Will Take Care of You.” But then I started to cry and said, “Bob, please don’t leave me.” And he looked up and said, “Leave you, go where? [What are you crying for? Forget crying, Rita!] Just keep singing. Sing! Sing!”
The lyrics of the song mean if you have a woman you will cry…if you don’t have a woman you will not cry…No woman no cry…
James Warrior, when you put the line No woman no cry out of context your explanation would be flawless, but you are wrong, some people have already given a pretty clear analyse of the song so I wont bother.
for me the song of bob marley “no woman, no cry” in my own point of view it means it doesn’t matter if you have a woman or don’t have, there is nothing to cry for. It in short no woman, don’t cry!
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Hank, James Warrior is not “wrong”, there is no such thing as an incorrect interpretation. I may disagree with his interpretation, but that does not make it wrong ; )
“No Woman No Cry”—- simply it means about, “f you don’t have a woman you will not cry” or “don’t cry woman” , “if you have a woman or don’t have, there is nothing to cry for” or many other meanings of such effect.
But to me , if we think the depth inside it, why not we think—-
“If there was no woman, there wouldn’t be and baby arriving the world and the very announcement of an infant is nothing but a cry”
Thx to all.
I think it means that after having a hysterectomy, you may be happier, as you no longer have any fear of getting pregnant. That’s “No womb and no cry”. Still think there’s no such thing as an incorrect interpretation, Mike?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Woman,_No_Cry
reading your post was kinda funny..ü “no woman, nuh cry” nuh=don’t.
but its not about just women, the song is about government also, during that time they where slaves and remember who colonized them?:) yes that country has a queen:) thats the woman:)
we rastas are common sense people.everyone always want the truth to be on their side ,but God fearing people knows that the only real truth is Gods truth.Bob is simply giving people hope (especially woman whom he viewed as the mother of creation).he is also telling us that his not gonna be with us much longer,and that our energy should not be wasted on tears but rather to help create a worldwide situation where everyone can live in ONE harmony.
JAH LIVE children
Simple as this… the dialect he originally used was “No woman, Nuh Cry.” In Jamaican dialect, the “nuh” means “don’t”. He’s telling a woman not to cry, not to shed a tear, and that everything is going to be alright.
Originally no, woman, nuh cry. And “nuh” in Jamaican English means “don’t”.
No, woman, don’t cry. Everything will be all right. I’ll be back, things will get better, don’t cry. I love you.
I think this is what he meant. It’s beautiful and like all his songs, it comes out of his experience, carrying his energy and if we listen, we cannot help but be moved by it.
Oh my God people, In native english, such as jamaican english, we use ‘nuh’ for don’t.
It is that simple. The reason for this stems from the days of slavery where the slaves had a language of there own, but were forced to communicate in english with their masters. What then happened was a mixture of various african dialects and english which gave birth to patois. A broken down form of an already broken english.