Music 28

Raquel Lewis Powell
Personal Essay #2
HUM 104-Music for Children.

“My music will go on forever. Maybe it's a fool say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever “, famous words of Robert Nestor Marley internationally known as Bob Marley and he was one hundred percent accurate, his music lives on and will continue to live on.
My chosen piece is a song titled “No Woman No Cry” written by Bob Marley himself, but he gave credits to an old friend Vincent Ford, who was Bob’s helping hand in his time of need. By giving Ford credit, he made sure his best friend got his royalty checks so he could support his family.
Bob Marley is responsible for putting reggae music and Jamaica on the map and made it a memorable place for tourist, thus generating foreign income from all over the globe which led to an improvement in the Jamaican economy. Jamaicans did not appreciate Bob and his music until people as far as Germany, Egypt, South and North America started to visit Jamaica just because of his music.
This song became Marley's first hit when it was released as a single from his album, Live which was recorded at the Lyceum in London in 1975. The original line of the song is "No, Woman, Nuh cry." Nuh is Jamaican for "don't," so what is meant by the lyric is No, Woman, Don't cry... Which denotes that he's leaving and reassuring her that the slum they live in won't get her down, that everything will be alright and "don't shed no tear."

I chose this piece because I can relate.   My mother and I and one point in our lives, resided about four miles from where this song and its creator was born, Trench Town, Jamaica. During the 90’s violence was at its peak in that area of Jamaica and many women could relate to this song in many ways. Many of the women of that time were single mothers who sacrificed and worked hard for their children. Particularly worried about their male children, who were usually high school drop outs and died at a very young...