Roots Archives Forum

Here I am listening , for the first time , to The Hamlins Studio One offering " Soul And Inspiration " and on comes " No Woman No Cry "

In my ignorance I had always assumed it to be a Marley track !

Anybody shed any light on who wrote the original , or WAS it Bob Marley ?

Thanks , in advance .

One "V Ford", if memory serves from my copy of the Island 7" edit of the live version, but may be getting into murky waters here...

Or was it R Ford, will have to dig it out and check... Mind you haven't played it for about 20 years!

Hey Trevor

Bit of info on a previous thread here;

**["Vincent Ford passed away."](http://www.roots-archives.com/forum/rea ... #msg-70305)**

Thanks 6anbatte . Should have used the SEARCH bar . Doh !!!:)

No probs.

R Ford is a racehorse trainer - I'm getting my hobbies mixed up...

i read somwhere that v. ford worked at bob marleys tuff gong studio or maybe his house as a gardener,think he was blind too but i maybe wrong, anyway also read that Marley recorded natty dread album and rastaman vibration at a time when his writing royalties still went to JAD so he put several of his songs down to other people.
i think if you listen to No woman no cry specialy the lyrics it could of only been written by marley.

yes nickfa, you are right about the royalties. in the book, bob marley- lyrical genius, it states:
of course, looking at the writing credits for both albums (natty dread/rastaman vibration) would lead anyone to believe that marley had actually stopped writing altogether or had embarked on a new era of collaboration. it is clear, in light of some legal cases embarked on after marleys death, that he was busy employing his own street smarts to get out of contractual arrangements that he had made with the JAD production team that he had signed when he was working with johnny nash. this is how the songwriting credits on the album are explained. but there is much more to these credits, it seems. those songs that were credited to other people were clearly tracks that marley had written more recently or tracks he may have written a few years back but had not released in any way or published. there was clearly no dispute about 'lively up yourself' which was recorded in the late 1960s on the wail n souls label with lee perry. the same is true of bend down low, which was the first title he produced on the flip side of mellow mood after his return from delaware. revolution, a new track was credited to b marley, an unusual label for bob marley. other tracks like no woman no cry (vincent tartar ford) were credited to people close to marley whom he knew would not make any legal problems for him. but in at least one instance, the process of giving credit was an act of homage to a good friend. it has been said that vincent tartar forde was one of the people who fed marley and gave him a place to sleep during his harder days in trenchtown.
according to timothy white, ford would continue to recieve royalties for 'no woman no cry' while bob was alive. the song that is credited to him is an anthem about those tough days in trenchtown.

ital k

When I wrote the thread , I was listening to The Hamlins as a CDR . Thanks to a heads up from Rootsman , he reserved me a pucker Studio One CD at Honest Jon`s in London .

This arrived today and the credits for the track are R. Marley and N. Livingston . So the conundrum is sort of solved .

A BIG thanks for all your help and knowledge . Yet again , you guys have not only answered the question but you have " put some meat on the bones "

BIG UP R.A.

Trevor