86. No Woman No Cry &...

Lyrics

No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry

Said said
Said I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
Oba, ob-serving the hypocrites
As they would mingle with the good people we meet
Good friends we have had, oh good friends we've lost along the way
In this bright future you can't forget your past
So dry your tears I say

No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Here little darlin', don't shed no tears
No woman, no cry

Said, said, said I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
And then Georgie would make the fire light
Log wood burnin' through the night
Then we would cook corn meal porridge
Of which I'll share with you

My weed is my only courage
So I've got to push on through
But while I'm gone...

Everything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright
Ev'rything's gonna be alright

No woman, no cry
No, no woman, no woman, no cry
Oh, little sister, don't she'd no tears
No woman, no cry

No woman, no woman, no woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Oh, my little darlyn no she'd no tears
little sister don't shed no tears, no women no cry

No woman no cry, no woman no cry
No woman no cry, no woman no cry

Say, say, said I remember when we used to sit
In a government yard in Trenchtown
Obba, obba, serving the hypocrites
As the would mingle with the good people we meet
Good friends we have, oh, good friends we've lost
Along the way
In this great future,
You can't forget your past
So dry your tears, I say

No woman no cry, no woman no cry
Little darling, don't she'd no tears, no woman no cry
Say, say, said I remember when we used to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
And then Georgie would make the fire light
As it was, love would burn on through the night
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge
Of which I'll share with you
My fear is my only courage
So I've got to push on throught
Oh, while I'm gone

Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
So woman no cry, no, no woman no cry

Oh, my little sister
Don't she'd no tears
No woman no cry
I remember when we use to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
And then Georgie would make the fire lights
As it was, log would burnin' through the nights
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge
Of which I'll share with you
My fear is my only courage
So I've got to push on thru
Oh, while I'm gone
No woman no cry, no, no woman no cry
Oh, my little darlin'
Don't she'd no tears
No woman no cry, No woman no cry

Oh my Little darlin', don't she'd no tears
No woman no cry
Little sister, don't she'd no tears
No woman no cry

When I was choosing what bachelor to go to I went to an introductory class in Language sciences. I was blown away by the professor who claimed that you could read the expression here No Woman No Cry in two ways. As Please woman, don't cry it's gonna be alright. Or as If there are no women, there is no crying. I am now quite stunned both that I was so impressed by this and by the fact that the professor was seriously arguing this. It's not that he argued that theoretically, and divorced from any context you could interpret an expression such as 'No Woman No Cry' in both ways. No, the professor asked us to think whether Bob Marley  maybe intended us to interpret the meaning of No Woman No Cry in this second way. There is absolutely nothing in this song supporting that statement. 

The Top 2000 has rightfully been criticized lately that it underestimates and ignores black artists. It took us 86 songs to find the first, and is the only one in the top 100. It will take a while before we get to people like Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles and Tina Turner. Furthermore Radio 2 completely ignores hip-hop and R&B. That would be not so bad, if they outright said they only have room for rock and pop on the list, but they allow many other genres. There are comedy/novelty songs on the list, German schlagers, a song sung by a French children choir and even the theme from The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Besides they don't completely ignore rap. A Dutch semi-rap song can be found on the list. The whiteness of the list was also visible in my last two movie choices. A back-to-back of L'Avventura and Husbands and Wives is just about the whites back-to-back possible. So No Woman No Cry came at the right time in other respects too. It's time for some ass-kicking blacksploitation, my first entry in that genre.

The Movie: Foxy Brown (Jack Hill, 1974)

There are too few movies made like this today. I do not necessarily mean movies with a strong black heroine, though there certainly should be made more of them too. But movies with strong black heroines have never been in abundance unfortunately. What I mean is that today there is a lack of mid-budgeted good movies that are simply content to be good movies. Basically, what I miss is serious entertainment for casual moviegoers. There are too few simple popcorn movies made today. Now, these movies want to provide awe at all costs and be the most spectacular movie possible. Their characters seemingly must save the world otherwise the stakes will be too low. On the other hand too many serious movies made today strive to be great art, and believe they have to say profound things about the world, humanity, or art. Some indie movies do not have this ambition, but they lack any ambition and are banal in every possible way. 

There is obviously not much wrong with these movies; I still love many movies, and there have been many great, and entertaining movies made this century. But still, there should be more movies like Foxy Brown. Foxy Brown is a movie that has some serious drama, some wonderful humor, some nice action scenes, and very good acting. It is mostly interested in telling a compelling story, but it does so stylishly, but the style never overshadows the movie's content. It's an entertaining movie that does not need you to shut off your brain completely to enjoy it. But it also doesn't need you to have a deep understanding of cinema to get it. It is an entertaining movie perfect for smart people who enjoy movies and take them seriously, but are not very interested in deeply analyzing them. I grew up on this kind of movies, like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. The last two are with Eddie Murphy, and that's not a coincidence in this context. The blacksplotation movies with Pam Grier probably paved the way for him to become a star. I have only seen this blackspolitation movie, so I may be talking crap, but it seems to me quite clear that the Beverly Hills Cop movies and the character of Axel Foley have very much been influenced by Foxy Brown, and other such movies. Foley and Brown have the same wisecracking irreverent attitudes towards (often white) criminals. And they have similar motives in fighting them. It must be said though that the Beverly Hills Cop movies are much more lighthearted than Foxy Brown. Foxy is not only raped here, she is also betrayed in the worst possible way by her brother, and furthermore her husband is killed. The death of her husband is what Foxy Brown wants to avenge here, and that's why she goes after the drug dealers. It is to this movie's great credit that it seamlessly blends these serious scenes with humor, sometimes even very goofy humor. The scene in which Foxy and another woman seduce a stupid, immoral judge is a great example of that. And of course there are some nice action scenes, including a fight in a lesbian bar and an attack with an airplane. 

During all this entertainment, the move never forgets that it is blacksploitation. It calls attention to the underprivileged, and turns them into strong characters. It is greatly helped by Pam Grier, who gives a very strong performance. Perhaps even more importantly Grier makes visible how confident she is in giving this performance and how proud she is to give it. She would have probably been a star, if she were white. The movie also is unsubtle in connecting the privileged whites to the drug trade and showing that the drug trade mostly leads to the deaths of poor black people. In other words it very directly makes the claim that drugs allows the rich whites to keep exerting their power over the poor black people. But the movie is not only interested in the skewed relationship between the rich and the poor, and the black and the white, but also in the relationship between men and women. It gives women power over men. The bad guys here are quite hilariously presented as bunch of stupid macho's who may give the impression of authority, but are under the thumb of their boss Katherine Wall. She is played with manic glee by Kathryn Loder, an actress who I have never heard of before. She gives a great over-the-top performance here that equals Grier's performance. Unfortunately I found out that Loder only made 5 movies and died at a young age, due to diabetes. 

Lastly, of course Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is a homage to Foxy Brown, and blacksploitation in general. Jackie Brown is a great movie, that is far better than Foxy Brown. But Quentin Tarantino's influences are often called to be disreputable. Many of those movies were indeed baldy made  It is important to note that some of those movies were considered disreputable, not because they were badly made, but because they dealt with stuff that was considered disreputable by the society they were made in. Foxy Brown is I think one such movie. This is quite simply a well-made movie. You absolutely do not need to watch it ironically to enjoy it.