“No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley

"No Woman, No Cry" first turned up on Natty Dread, the seventh studio album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, recorded and released in 1974 with the writing credited to Vincent Ford. Good as that studio cut is, it was the stage that made the song.

On 17 July 1975, during the Natty Dread tour, the band played the Lyceum Theatre in London with the tapes rolling, and the performance ended up on Live! later that year. Pulled off the album as a single, that live take became the "No Woman, No Cry" the world knows best, and it has turned up on several compilations since, the greatest-hits collection Legend among them. It's reggae at its most tender and patient, a song that seems to gather strength the longer it lingers.

The honors have gone to that live version too. The Grammy Hall of Fame inducted it in 2005, and Rolling Stone put it at number 37 on its list of the 500 greatest songs ever.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.