No Woman No Cry
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.
I belive that this song (No women no cry )been played by Boony Am team.I belive that the meaning of this song is (Requesting his women ,not to cry).(No ,Women Dont cry )
azernaji Jun-09-2008
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i dont know if this question is still wanted to be answered but i agree with mellee. bob marley had cancer that started in his foot , which eventually led to his death. he says in the song "my feet is my only carriage, so i've got to push on through. But while im gone..." so he's probably just telling his wife and/or other women to not cry over his death. and the rest of the song is just him recounting his good memories of the past before he dies. its very clear if you know about the cancerous foot part.
yithechinaman Jun-08-2008
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As a Jamaican and a former student of Linguistics, I can guarantee that his lyrics does not mean "if you do not have a woman, do not cry," and that this excerpt from the song over which we are debating is not a pidgin, a dialect, hackney or whatever else that was said here. Jamaican Creole is a language in development, and like English and other "bona fide" languages if given the opportunity to develop naturally, will become a full fledged language. As for the lyrics being debated, it translates in English as no woman should experience sorrow, pain. My personal interpretation of the song is that it was an ode to the strength and character of women. In my opinion, he might have written this song to his wife Rita because he knew that he would die soon and he wanted her to be strong and carry on. However as others have said, he might have been alludding to other issues on a wider spectrum
mellee Jun-02-2008
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I agree with Mathew:
"he definetly means; woman, dont cry."
i think its all about what the song means to you. this is what it means to me. it could in fact be the political points stated, but its not what i think of when i hear it.
But it most definetly does NOT mean " if you dont have a woman you wont cry."
Laurrrra May-22-2008
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If the phrase meant "if you don't have a woman you won't cry", then the next line -- "No, little sister, don't shed no tears" -- would make no sense at all. "No, woman, don't cry" must be the correct interpretation.
MP1 May-17-2008
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Newfam, I haven't really scrutinized the lyrics enough to have a strong opinion, but it would seem that most here disagree with you and Mr. Gibson. In any case, you shouldn't be surprised at all that there are so many drastically different interpretations. It is the very nature, perhaps even the definition of poetry that it resonates with many people on many different levels, even beyond the intent and expectations of the poet.
anonymous4 Apr-28-2008
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I can't believe how many people have drastically different interpretations, and are so adamant that they are right. I believe that there is one meaning, and I would agree with Mr. Gibson. If you have no woman to love, you may have many things, but your heart is empty. There is a fullness in being a man, but without the love and emotion, even crying inherent in relation, what do you really have? Beautiful words that every man should be in contact with. Man's struggle. No woman, no cry.
newfam Apr-27-2008
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Kerri-Anne....I think we all agree with you when you say he was a musical genius. He has touched so many of us with his music.
Mac_McIntire Apr-20-2008
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Then again, Bob Gibson also said "simplistic" when he obviously meant "simple".
anonymous4 Mar-31-2008
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Bob Gibson has a nice version of it for instance, but it has nothing at all to do with what Marley was saying, real Marley fans would know that.
Nesta_again Mar-28-2008
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It means No woman, DONT cry. Can read as shallow or deep into that as you want ( in terms of the political stuff)
Anyone who says its about a man not having a woman has TOTALLY missed the mark.
Robert_Nesta Mar-28-2008
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I feel the song is very simplistic its statement but very deep in meaning.
The phrase "no woman no cry'' means if you do not have a woman, life for a man has no responsibilities- NO CRY- he can be a player basically immature. However who wants to spend his life without a true mate and all the responsibility that comes with it- hence there will be some tears. How ever some of the tears will be tears and cries of joy.
Think about it -this is a very deep song
bobgibson Mar-26-2008
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No,no,no. What are you all talking about. Any true Bob Marley fan would know that "No Woman,No Cry" is a reference to Englands prior control of Jamaica. "Woman" is a reference to the Queen of England. They used to protest in Trench Town all night long against England. A purely political song. Peter Tosh was also very influential in this fight.
mkiyabru Mar-18-2008
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i am a jamaican girl origionally from st. katherine jamaica, a peris near kingston and i just wanted to put that in jamaica, bob marley is a musical genius and his music is pure and wonderful. listen to his lyrics and i guarentee you will realize what he is talking about..1 luv as we say
kgizmo1 Mar-09-2008
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that was lovely randy, you truly are a poet
Dimitri Feb-28-2008
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"rastafari forever" is right in today's school of modern thought about reggae... sociopolitical currents are what made reggae the voice of the ghetto, and Bob Marley was singing for recently independent Jamaica, the symbol of woman refers to the Queen...move forward and dont dwell on the past colonial and white- man dominated times... fit it in with the African- Caribbean diasporic movement and there you have it, a synopsis on how reggae does much to promote an Afro- Caribbean agenda, rather than the now popular Afro- Hispanic agenda. Hope that helps in Japan!
Dimitri Feb-26-2008
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Its amazing how this particular song is being debated about. This song has got nothing to do with a woman or crying, if you check out the legend album, there is songs that already songs to cover that topic. By 'woman' bob is talking about any any suffering community in third world countries all over the world. More specifically, I think Robert is referring to Africa, the motherland....Everything is realy gonna be alright!!!!!!!
dan1 Feb-25-2008
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Hello everyone!!
I just managed to read about it but I firmly believe that the song "no woman no cry" was sung for the commom people of Trench Town. He dedicated this song to them for the good times they spent despite the state of misery and to remind them how nice everything was, which has changed with the changing time.
The lyrics are extremely simple and quotes a lot about Bob Marley's observation of life in general. It is definitely Bob Marley's reminiscence of the life he led with the common people. But it is awesome if the lyrics are well understood.
Cheers!!
fanaticnamita Feb-24-2008
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A more accurate rendering of the title in Jamaican patois would be "No, woman, nuh cry". Nuh, which makes a shorter vowel sound for no, is the equivalent of the contraction don't.
jerry.gervacio Feb-06-2008
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He definitely means woman, don't cry
Matthew1 Feb-01-2008
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When I see:
"no woman..." meaning "no, woman..." meaning you're saying no to a woman and actually calling her "woman" like some sort of title or nickname
and compare it to:
"no woman..." meaning "you don't have a woman..."
it reminds me of a comedy country song from long ago called "My Girl Bill". The entire song sounds like it's about a girl named Bill, but then at the very end, the last line is "...she's MY girl, BILL", and it's clear that the singer is telling this to his male friend, Bill, not singing ABOUT a girl named Bill. The entire song can be understood either way, which, I guess, is what makes it funny.
anonymous4 Jan-29-2008
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it makes more sense if you shake your head and look down while you say it
Jon2 Jan-29-2008
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well a lot of people think it means if you have or if there were no women , you dont have to shed tears. but then why would the next sentence be , oh little sister , Dont shead no tear , thats gotto be about a woman, i going for no woman , dont cry :)
serge Jan-24-2008
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In Jamaica, some native speakers use the word "nuh" -some distortion of English - to replace the contraction "don't".
lAlA1 Jan-21-2008
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i once heard that the song, "No Woman No Cry" was dedicated to bob's wife. a friend told me that bob made this song because he wanted to tell his wife that he didn't have another woman, thus, it's like saying, "i don't have a woman, don't cry".
but then, this is only hearsay. and the others had already done their research at bobmarley.com, so, i think that's the one we should rely on.
min Jan-21-2008
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Certainly that title means that without a woman there'll be no tears, if you read the lyrics from that song you'll find that it means what i've just said
Fran1 Jan-10-2008
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Seems if one writes out the lyrics it becomes obvious.
I love this song :).
Tom1 Dec-04-2007
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Georgie was a good friend of Marley's that was killed during the Kingston riots. He is singing to the man's wife or sister...
Marley_fan Dec-04-2007
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Alexa Kim... much love to ya, thanks for standing up to ignorant assholes.
JayRoc- your quote is wonderful and well thought out, as well as accurate.
And Princess... I appreciate all the accurate and informational pieces on your part as well...well done!
Rastafari forever- Thank you as well, your information was also very accurate!!
All these people know their Bob Marley music, or at least did some research. I am a Bob Marley fan, along with many other reggae artists for 15 years now, lived in the Carribean, and study the rastafarian culture. Bob Marley was not telling a woman not to cry, and he was DEFINITELY not saying that Women = pain and suffering and without them you will not cry...come on! As Rastafari forever said, believe what you want, I know what is true and this song is beautiful and full of meaning. It's political... and tells a story of Jamaica and the hardships the people suffered but they had to be strong. Do some research... you'll find out for yourself.
Rasta_Gial Nov-24-2007
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there are two meanings for this song theres the jamican 1 and the english 1
the jamican meaning :
"No Woman,No Cry" is a reference to Englands prior control of Jamaica. "Woman" is a reference to the Queen of England. They used to protest in Trench Town all night long against England. A purely political song.
the english version:
is taken from one of bobs friends that was dying in hospital the mans wife was cry by his bed side and the dying man held her face in her hand and said.."no woman!....no cry!.." bob was toucjed by this and wrote the song in memory of his friend.
make up your own mind which one who want to believe...i no which one i believe but either way its a beautiful song that holds alot of meaning for alot of people ....but it definatly aint about a man with no legs lol
rastafari forever,forever rasta!
rastafari_forever Sep-28-2007
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the song is about a jamaican who has no legs and because of that he can't relate sexually with women. nevertheless he's a happy man. no woman....but he don't cries
hpcm Sep-24-2007
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The song tells the story of him in his early years. Trenchtown is a government housing project in Jamaica. As you may know, Bob grew up in one of these developments as a child. Firelight refers to this. At night, in the center of the development, a huge fire was lit every night for a number of reasons. One was to keep warm since the buildings had no heating and to cook the community food such as "cornmeal porridge." He is speaking to someone and telling that person, a girl, to look to the future and not to cry because of the circumstances. It is also said that Bob predicted his illness which he would get later in life when he says "My feet is my only carriage, so i'll have to push on through." Bob got cancer which started in his big right toe years later. He refuse surgery because he wasn't sure how it would effects his dancing on stage. So he would have to push on through. He is saying in his apsents not to cry. It should also be mentioned that at the end of the performance, he would always cry which means the song was personal to him.
Bill1 Sep-23-2007
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yes it means, don't cry. Jah Bless!
k1 Sep-13-2007
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g
anonymous4 Sep-11-2007
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ungrammatical :-(
David5 Aug-22-2007
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just wanted to say that it's my favorite sing ever!
lol1 Aug-20-2007
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I think someone already said this, but it's a political and song of strength for his people, and in particular the women living in the impoverished conditions in the trench towns of Jamaica. To give them strength and to literally tell them not to cry. I've also heard that the "Woman" referred to in "No Woman, no cry" may also be a reference to the queen of England and a protest to Englands control of Jamaica.
What I know for sure is this is one of the greatest songs ever written.
Alex_Kim Aug-14-2007
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David Wells | Jul-2-04 3:01AM
Bob meant "please don't cry, we're moving forward." That's it. To the Japanese: get a culture!
That's an amazingly ignorant comment. Japanese people have long standing traditions that you couldn't understand. Maybe their traditions aren't as blatant as drinking beer till you lose your job, like most "white men" traditions go Mr. "Wells". (kinda sucks when people make ignorant comments, doesn't it?)
The fact that a japanese person, from japan is communicating to you in english to learn about a third party culture, has been overlooked in this situation. You may think you know your own culture so well, but that kind of ethnocentric thinking leads to inbred ways of life that turn even good people into an ignorant mess.
Do like the smart ones do. Learn from everyone, take the best and make it your own. Don't forget where you came from and know where you're going and go even if you don't have clue. Life was not meant to be lived in comfort zones.
Alex_Kim Aug-14-2007
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Man! This song is like a hymn. I seems to communicate a deep spiritual message that however I'm feeling it seems to just make me think of God!
Adam_Rees Aug-10-2007
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Princess R is right. The woman gave you all a quote from bobmarley.com which clearly explains the songs yet some people still want to continue with their own opinion. If you want to understand someone's music or song you need to understand them and especially with this , what Bob was going for his whole life. Bob was an excellent social commentator and spokesman for the struggle of the people, here in this song he speaks of Trench Town(so named because it was built over a ditch that drained the sewage of old Kingston) in Jamaica, a very impoverished area and out of that struggle and poverty comes this song.
What people need to understand about dialects especially in the caribbean is that you can't try to understand words said as if they were a regular english sentence because it would make no sense. E.g De man had clothes like bush doesnt mean his clothes look like bush but that "The man had alot of clothes. So you see regular english words used but having meaning to a group of people and absolutely none to others. I hope this helps increase your appreciation for our differences in language and that it peaks your curiosity to find out more. It has been said that english is one of the hardest languages to learn since it hardly follows any rules like the other languages and dialects like Caribbean ones make it a little more difficult especially when they are composite of mixture between languages like Spanish/French and English.
BTW I am a Bajan or Barbadian from BARBADOS an island in the Caribbean not too far from Jamaica. BARBADOS is also Rihanna's home country. You should visit sometime Sumi.
http://virtually-barbados.com/frameset.asp
JayRoc Jul-14-2007
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Princess R's explanation above is the correct one. You need to read the lyrics, and understand his life. Imagine that he is talking to a woman who is crying, and he is saying no woman, you don't have to cry... One Love
Princess_R_is_Right Jul-11-2007
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It's like the saying "Know Jesus, Know Peace, No Jesus, No peace"
"No woman, no cry" is saying that if you don't have a lover, you won't end up heartbroken and crying.
Laura2 Jul-02-2007
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No, woman, no cry.
A rendering of this title in Jamaican patois would be "No, woman, nuh cry". The "nuh", which makes a shorter vowel sound for "no", is the equal to the contraction "don't".
So the title would become "No, woman, don't cry".
And (I think) Marley said these words to help the women in the Trenchtown ghetto to keep looking at the future and do not cry for what has passed.
(referring to the words "Everything's gonna be all right!")
little_jasmin_07 Jul-01-2007
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sad
youre_all_sad Jun-27-2007
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yes the meaning of the song is, No Woman would cry.. its political so dont take the title literally
cheena Jun-21-2007
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I'm Jamaican. It means "No. Woman, don't cry." As in please don't cry.
jamaykanqueen89 Mar-29-2007
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I do think that it means
"hey woman, please don't cry", something softer, a kind of advice.....
and i also think that Jamaican is a mix of languages so it's been very distorted, and that's why it's very difficult to understand the meaning of it.
fyonyta Mar-21-2007
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I do think he's saying that woman are strong people, they tend to solve their problems more than just sitting and making them a burden.
Keisha Mar-21-2007
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i got a snake, man!!
Bob3 Aug-13-2006
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"pidgin" refers to a mixing of languages. when a "pidgin" language has members that speak said language as their first lang. then it becomes a creol(sp? i'm terrible at spelling). yes, it is "Cockney," "hackney"is being used as a derogatory description of Jamacian english
LING_101_duh Aug-13-2004
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Elena: It's spelled "pidgin." And a "hackney" is a taxicab.
I think you are thinking of "Cockney," which is traditionally thought of as the dialect spoken by those born within the sound of Bow bells. It was the dialect spoken by the character Eliza from "My Fair Lady," before she learned to speak like a woman of the upper class.
speedwell2 Aug-02-2004
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I have o agree with (most) everyone. It means "No, woman..Don't cry" Not: Don't cry if you don't have a woman. Also, the correct term is "pidgeon" English, or "Patois" not Hackney. Hackney is the dialect used for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" That is a far cry from the dialect used in Jamaica. And yes, they are both real Engilsh dialects. It's pretty silly to say that there is no "real" English to derive a dialect from. "Real" English is the Queen's Engilsh of course! What the hell else would it be? (BTW; I'm American)
elenas=1 Aug-02-2004
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Hello Sumi,
Well, if you take a look at this listen to this:
http://www.jamaicans.com/childsguide/music.htm
You can listen to the music here:
http://www.jamaicans.com/music/audio/World_Is_A_Stage_56k.wma
When they say the following:
"With me Baby"
The correct English would be "With my baby"
But as it's how people would speak in Jamaica.
Now back to the original question:
If you look at the way when people say
"No man!" Or "No way man!" The adding of man
at the end of sentences originates from Jamaica - I think - I might be wrong or I might be correct. OK man?
;-)
A pun there! Couldn't resist!
So to a woman - "No woman, no cry" - This can be translated to be the following:
"No lady, please don't cry"
I think it's a fair translation...Would anyone else disagree or agree?
Sumi, I'm not Japanese nor am I Jamaican. I have Jamaican friends, and I was started to listen to Jamaican music when I was young.
See you around!
ROuNIN
rouninurashima Jul-04-2004
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Bob meant "please don't cry, we're moving forward." That's it. To the Japanese: get a culture!
David_Wells Jul-02-2004
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princess-r was correct. It is evident by reading, or paying attention to the lyrics, that he is telling the women not to cry.
"no woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Oh, my little darlin'
please don't shed no tears
No woman, no cry, yeah"
Alex1 Jun-30-2004
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Let's call that second no ", don't".
Bobisfat Jun-30-2004
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There is nothing hackneyed about the Jamaican dialect of English (is it possible for a language or dialect to be hackneyed? I can't imagine what that would mean), and it is no more "distorted" than any American dialect, for there is no "true" English for either of them to be distorted from. Jamaican English is simply its own version of the English language.
Jun-Dai Jun-24-2004
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According to someone who has a recording of his Santa Cruz concert — he intros this song as: No Woman, Don't Cry.
princess-r Jun-24-2004
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First off, Jamacians speak such a hackneyed, distorted version of english, that the bulk of americans cannot even understand what they're saying.
Second, I'd guess that from "Little darling, don't shed no tears/No woman no cry". is that he's telling a woman not to cry.
Bubba1 Jun-23-2004
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what db girl said.
He's saying that if you don't have a woman, you shouldn't cry about it.
P_Ray Jun-23-2004
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it means:
No woman, don't cry
women in the trench town ghetto had a hard life, this is a song of comfort and tribute to the people of that community
here's the meaning of it according to bobmarley.com
"No Woman No Cry," a deeply personal reminiscence of Bob's impoverished life in Trench Town. The songwriting credit was given to V. Ford, more commonly known among his brethren as Tartar. Had it not been for Tartar's kitchen, Bob would literally have starved on occasion. And there really was a "Georgie" who would keep the fire light as the boys played until the early hours of the morning.
Rita Marley (wife) autobiography is named:
No woman no cry: my life with bob marley
princess-r Jun-23-2004
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It means that if you don't have a woman, or you're not involved with people emotionally, you won't cry. Its a song about love, of course.
Xian Jun-20-2004
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I too always thought of it in the sense MDT mentioned below. Once I was asking a guy if he had a girlfriend and he sang: " No woman, no cry!"
However Speedwell is right, you gotta ask a native Jamaican. Just don't kill the buzz!
P.S. I just saw this today: "Big up all yardman philosophers!" See? Having a look at some Ragga lyrics will help you give up being curious on Jamanglish!
goossun Jun-18-2004
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Hmmm... I had always thought that he was saying that without a woman you'll have no tears, or, in other words women = pain and suffering...
But then maybe i should re-listen to the song.
-- MDT
MDT Jun-17-2004
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Here are the full lyrics:
http://www.songlyrics.co.nz/lyrics/b/bobmarley/nowoman.htm
Judging from the context, I'd say the phrase means something like "No, woman, don't cry." But I agree with speedwell that it's a regional usage that may not be clear to a speaker of US or UK English.
Adam_Rice Jun-17-2004
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What you need, sumi, is an explanation by a native Jamaican speaker. While the language is English, it is sort of not English. It's been changed so much that most of the grammar rules of standard English no longer apply. Since I speak only standard English, I'm not able to explain the meaning for you (though with a little research I could probably find out).
speedwell2 Jun-17-2004
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I always thought it meant that he had 'no woman' but he wasn't going to cry about it anymore. I'll listen to it again and think about it.
db_girl Jun-17-2004
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