"No Woman, No Cry" is one of Bob Marley and the Wailers' most beloved songs, first released on the 1974 album *Natty Dread* before a live version, recorded at London's Lyceum Theatre, became the definitive and far more famous rendition on the 1975 album *Live!*. The song endures as a poignant example of how Marley blended personal reminiscence with universal comfort, and its writing credit carries a story of its own: it was officially attributed to Vincent "Tata" Ford, a friend of Marley's from the Trenchtown ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica, rather than to Marley himself.

Ford ran a small soup kitchen in Trenchtown that had helped feed Marley in his youth, and by crediting the song to Ford, Marley ensured that royalty payments would support Ford and his kitchen, as well as help cover his medical costs as he lived with diabetes. Lyrically, the song looks back fondly and mournfully on hardship in the "government yard in Trenchtown", offering reassurance to a struggling companion that things will improve. Its title is often misread as a statement about relationships, but is more accurately understood as shorthand for "woman, don't cry" – a message of solace rooted in shared struggle and community.