Song · Van Morrison
“Fair Play” by Van Morrison
From the album Veedon Fleece (1974)
“Fair Play” by Van Morrison appears on 1 radio countdown from 1 station in 2020. It was first released in 1974 on the album Veedon Fleece. Its best result is #1764 on the WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #7,561 indie & aaa song of all time.
"Fair Play" opens Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece, and on this 1974 record he lets his pen roam the way it hadn't since a handful of songs on Saint Dominic's Preview in 1972. By Morrison's own account the song simply came out of whatever was drifting through his head, and it drifts gorgeously: a ballad in waltz time that wanders through Killarney and tips its hat to Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe and Henry David Thoreau.
He took the title from an Irish friend who kept tossing off "fair play to you" as a dry, backhanded bit of praise. Morrison produced it himself and keeps the players gathered close around his voice: James Trumbo on piano, Ralph Walsh on acoustic guitar, David Hayes on double bass and Dahaud Shaar on drums. It later turned up on The Essential Van Morrison in 2015.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1764 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
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