No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley & The Wailers

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Bridge → Chorus ×3

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• C – G/B – Am
  I – V⁶ – vi
• F – C (×2)
  IV – I
• G
  V

Chorus 1

• C – G/B – Am – F – C – F – C – G (×2)
  I – V⁶ – vi – IV – I – IV – I – V

Verse 1

• C – G/B – Am – F (×8)
  I – V⁶ – vi – IV

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge

• C – G/B – Am – F (×4)
  I – V⁶ – vi – IV

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Bridge
G/B	V⁶	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Bridge
Am	vi	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Bridge
F	IV	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Bridge
G	V	In the key	Intro, Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• The Verse 1 loops C – G/B – Am – F (I – V⁶ – vi – IV), a rotation of the “axis” progression (I–V–vi–IV family).

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.