Even if you describe yourself as a Bob Marley & The Wailers fan there is a decent chance that you do not own the album Natty Dread. And if you do own the album there is a good chance you own it solely because of the song “No Woman, No Cry.” Natty Dread was released on October 25, 1974. Two hundred and sixty six days later at The Lyceum Theatre in London, Bob Marley & The Wailers performed a two-day concert that would be released on December 5, 1975 as the live album Live! If you are a Bob Marley fan there is a very good chance you own this live album, and you own it most likely because of the live version of “No Woman, No Cry.” Furthermore, even if you are not a fan of Bob Marley specifically—or reggae in general—there is a very good chance that you like/love this song.
The live version of “No Woman, No Cry” is a mellow summertime masterpiece:[1] the bass drum is heavy and spaced out like heartbeats, the rest of the percussion is lighter and even carefree, the organ is smooth and upfront but never overpowering, and the early chants of “no woman, no cry” from the crowd as they try to anticipate when Marley will begin singing; all of it conspires to create both a wonderful airiness and, especially in the case of the crowd singing, a small sense that you can somehow feel as though you are there.
To be sure, there is an irony here in describing this song as a summertime masterpiece that has a wonderful airiness, and that is: “No Woman, No Cry” is rooted mostly in sadness. But it is easily on the short list of most beautiful sad songs ever. Almost exactly midway through “No Woman, No Cry” there is a chorus of “everything’s gonna be alright” and it coincides with the music becoming a little more upbeat and the crowd cheering a little bit louder. Not very many songs with that chorus would elicit cheers but it is not a typical song and Bob Marley was not a typical musician.
The history of rock has its fair share of icons by which you can connect definite dots across in order for the story to unfold—a top level that includes Elvis, Mick, John, Paul, Chuck, Jimi, etc. But Marley was different. He was not born in the U.S. or the U.K. His first singles never included a Chuck Berry cover. His music, to a casual fan, was not directly born out of country, blues, or R&B. Instead, he was born in Jamaica, became a member of the Rastafari, and collaborated briefly with Lee “Scratch” Perry. One could say that Bob Marley became an international star because of his music first and his image second, which is to some degree in contrast to how some of the other icons achieved their immortality.[2] (I.e.–it took 8 years after their debut for Marley and The Wailers to break through on to the world stage; the aforementioned artists did not encounter anywhere near the same amount of delay in reaching their iconic status.)
It is important to note Marley’s international success (and the non-traditional way he achieved it) because every subsequent musician who was not born in the U.S. or the U.K. would love to emulate him, regardless of whether or not they play reggae music. What I mean is this: it makes sense why guys like Elvis, and John and Paul, and Jimi (and Jimmy), and Mick became Icons on a worldwide stage—they were in their own respects blessed with great talent, a great look, and great timing. Their music—as it was being produced—was being viewed as timeless because of the style of music that they were performing. The Beatles, Elvis, the Stones, Zeppelin: they were all making music that was fundamentally accepted by most people as being important.
On the other hand, you have Bob Marley, a reggae musician whose popularity was in many ways tied to the fact that he was not American or British, and he was not singing about social or political things that were U.S.- or U.K.-centric. When Marley sang about politics or freedom from force, the inspiration to write about those things might have been similar to how a musician from the U.S. got their inspiration to write a song about Nixon or dictators (or whatever). The difference, though, is that a Bob Marley song will always resonate on a different wavelength. To someone living in Africa or South America, a Bob Marley song will almost always be more accepted/profound than a Bob Dylan song; there is a universalness to a Wailers song that an American or British song cannot compete with.
Regardless of Marley’s international significance, or how his iconic status compares with the other legends and pioneers of modern music, “No Woman, No Cry” is the best song to sum up one of the most popular musicians of the last 40 years. And the live version of it is one of the best ever recorded.
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[1] It’s an anytime masterpiece, really, but it seems to be most fitting to listen to when it is warm outside.
[2] To some degree, yes, Marley’s image as a laid-back, pot-smoking Rastafarian surely helped garner new audiences (white teenagers) but I think the fact that he was an accomplished reggae musician in an era of concept albums and disillusionment and prog rock definitely helped him stick out amongst the other trees in the landscape of music.
