"Don't Pull Your Love" is a song written by Brian Potter and

Dennis Lambert Dennis Earle Lambert (born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was w ...

which became a top ten hit single in 1971 for

Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were a 1970s soft rock trio from Los Angeles. The original members were Dan Hamilton (guitar/lead vocal), Joe Frank Carollo (bass/vocal), and Tommy Reynolds (multi-instrumentalist/vocal), all of whom had previou ...

Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds recording

Background

Rumored to have been written with

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

in mind, and first recorded (as "Don't Pull Your Love Out") in 1970 by Country Store—an obscure group produced by the song's writers Lambert and Potter—"Don't Pull Your Love" had been optioned by ABC-Dunhill Records A&R vice-president

Steve Barri Steve Barri (born Steven Barry Lipkin in Brooklyn, New York on February 23, 1942) is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Early in his career, Barri was a staff writer with Dunhill Records. He produced such huge hits as " Dizzy" ...

to be recorded by

the Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two go ...

whom Barri had been producing for five years: however the Grass Roots passed on the song, which Barri recalls the group considered "a bit light eight. Joe Frank Carollo would recall how he and his fellow band members Dan Hamilton and Tommy Reynolds were performing a

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

medley to audition for ABC-Dunhill when Steve Barri stopped the trio to play them the

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

of "Don't Pull Your Love" two or three times til the trio themselves could sing it for Barri, who resultantly arranged for Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds to be signed to ABC-Dunhill that same day. According to Steve Barri, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds themselves played on the basic tracks for their recording sessions, on which

Jimmie Haskell Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely ...

's horn and string arrangements were later overdubbed. The credits for their debut, which included "Don't Pull Your Love", entitled ''

'', lists the group members as musicians (

Dan Hamilton Dan Hamilton is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor Adam Astill. He first appeared in the series thirteen episode "Blue Valentine", broadcast on 15 February 2011. Dan is a consultant orthopaedic s ...

on lead vocals and guitar, Joe Frank Carollo on bass guitar and Tom Reynolds on keyboards) with additional credits for drummer Joe Correro Jr. – formerly of

Paul Revere & the Raiders Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revolu ...

– and keyboardist

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon ...

. Both Correro (Carollo's second cousin) and Knechtel were prolific session musicians with Knechtel - who also played bass - being a regular member of iconic Los Angeles session band the Wrecking Crew: it has been alleged that the instrumentation on "Don't Pull Your Love" was exclusively a work of the Wrecking Crew with the trio being relegated only to vocals, an allegation which Carollo has refuted ("we were self contained so we pretty much played on everything"), concluding that only Knechtel and Correro, as session musicians, played on the "Don't Pull Your Love" session. An instrumental entitled "Funk-in-Wagnal", credited to the group's members, was recorded to be

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of "Don't Pull Your Love". Recorded in December 1970, "Don't Pull Your Love" was released April 1971 and reached No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 dated 31 July 1971, in which month the single was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

for sales of one million units (''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' also afforded "Don't Pull Your Love" a No. 4 ranking on the magazine's

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart). On the Top 100 Singles chart in ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' dated 31 July 1971, "Don't Pull Your Love" was ranked at #1. In Canada, "Don't Pull Your Love" spent one week at number one.RPM 100
, ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'', Volume 15, No. 24, July 31, 1971. Accessed August 2, 2016.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Sam & Dave

The song was recorded by

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (born 1935) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", "The ...

in 1971. Their version was released on Atlantic Records in October 1971 and reached number 36 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. It can be found on various "best of" Sam & Dave collections that are currently available.

Glen Campbell medley

The lead single from the 1976

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

album ''

Bloodline Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic informa ...

'' - which was produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter - was a medley of "Don't Pull Your Love" with the

John D. Loudermilk John Dee Loudermilk Jr. (March 31, 1934 – September 21, 2016) was an American singer and songwriter. Although he had his own recording career during the 1950s and 1960s, he was primarily known as a songwriter. His best-known songs include "I ...

composition "

Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" is a song written by John D. Loudermilk. It was first released in 1962 by Don Cherry, as a country song and again as a doo-wop in 1967 by the group The Casinos on its album of the same name, and was a number 6 pop ...

". Lambert and Potter had previously been responsible for Campbell's massive 1975 comeback album ''

Rhinestone Cowboy "Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song written by Larry Weiss and recorded by American country music singer Glen Campbell. When released on May 26, 1975, as the lead single and title track from his album '' Rhinestone Cowboy'', it enjoyed huge popularity ...

''. "Don't Pull Your Love"/ "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" was far less successful than either of the singles off ''Rhinestone Cowboy'', the medley just scraping the top 30 of the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in ''

'', performing much better on the magazine's airplay-driven C&W and

charts. "Don't Pull Your Love"/ "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" was a major hit in Canada, reaching number 2 on the country chart and number 1 on the pop chart. Campbell performed the medley in 1977 with

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

on the '' Sonny & Cher Show'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Chart performance

Sean Maguire cover

In 1996, the song was covered by English actor/singer

Sean Maguire Sean Maguire (born 18 April 1976 in Ilford, London) is a British-American actor and singer, who rose to fame in 1988 when at the age of eleven he took on the role of "Tegs" Ratcliffe on the BBC children's drama ''Grange Hill'', in which he r ...

, and released as his seventh single. It was the fourth and final single from his second album ''

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

'' and reached number 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Track listing

CD1 CD2

Other versions

"Don't Pull Your Love" was performed by Rob Paulsen in the animated movie '' Batman and Harley Quinn''; Paulsen sang it as twin henchmen Min and Max, working for Two-Face, in a henchpersons' tavern that Harley visits with Batman and Nightwing, seeking information on Poison Ivy.

The Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two go ...

who passed on the song were performing it in concert by 1996, with their live version - entitled "Don't Pull Your Love Out on Me Baby" - being included on the group's 2000 concert album ''Live at Last''. The song was also recorded by

the Lettermen The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contempor ...

(album ''Love Book''/ 1971),

Sammy Babitzin Aleksandr "Sammy" Babitzin (11 July 1948 – 29 April 1973) was a Finnish popular music singer, the brother of Kirka and Muska. Babitzin was born in Helsinki. He started his professional career in a band called The Stealers. Its line-up also in ...

(as "Kuin Tuhka Tuuleen" _Finnish: album ''Sammy''/ 1973): also a 1972 single release), and

Guys 'n' Dolls Guys 'n' Dolls were a UK pop group, initially comprising a three-girl/three-boy line-up and later becoming two-girl/two-boy. In the mid-1970s, they scored UK top-ten hits with the singles " There's a Whole Lot of Loving" and "You Don't Have to ...

(album ''The Good Times''/ 1976), the last-named modifying the song to a

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

with the lead vocals split between Dominic Grant and Martine Howard.

Jimmy Helms James D. Helms (born September 27, 1941) is an American soul singer, known as a member of Londonbeat but who also had solo hits such as " Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse". Early years James D. Helms was born in Florida, United States. ...

had a 1975 single release of "Don't Pull Your Love".

References

External links

* {{authority control 1971 songs 1971 debut singles Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds songs 1996 singles Glen Campbell songs Sean Maguire songs Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Brian Potter (musician) Songs written by Dennis Lambert Capitol Records singles Dunhill Records singles ABC Records singles Parlophone singles