"Fair Play" is a song by Northern Irish artist

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

. The opening track on the 1974 album ''

Veedon Fleece ''Veedon Fleece'' is the eighth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released on 5 October 1974. Morrison recorded the album shortly after his divorce from wife Janet (Planet) Rigsbee. With his broken marriage in the pa ...

'', it derived its name from Morrison's Irish friend, Donall Corvin's repeated use of the Irish colloquialism "fair play to you" as a wry compliment. The 3/4 ballad references Irish city

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castl ...

, and poets

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

and

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...

, and according to Morrison, the song derived from "what was running through his head", and marked a return to the stream of consciousness channeled song-writing that had not been evident since several of the songs contained in his 1972 album ''

Saint Dominic's Preview ''Saint Dominic's Preview'' is the sixth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in July 1972 by Warner Bros. Records. ''Rolling Stone'' declared it "the best-produced, most ambitious Van Morrison record y ...

''.Heylin, ''Can You Feel the Silence?'', p.279 "Fair Play" was included on the 2015 compilation '' The Essential Van Morrison''.

Reviews

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

describes the song as "a jazzy folk song which opens the album with soft strains of an acoustic guitar, upright bass, and natural-sounding piano that slowly start to come to life". The aforementioned sounds were described as "the kinds of sounds that bring to mind an autumn Sunday morning, when things seem rested, meditative, solid, and complete". As ''

'' is often overlooked in favor of critically lauded Van Morrison's first major artistic breakthrough ''

Astral Weeks ''Astral Weeks'' is the second studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was recorded at Century Sound Studios in New York during September and October 1968, and released in November of the same year by Warner Bros. Reco ...

'', the album still picks up where the former record left off and more fully realizes the spiritual and musical quests set forth on ''Astral Weeks''. The song is also described as deep, and "a soul number in the literal sense of the term".

Live performance

"Fair Play" was performed 56 times totally (three times in medleys).

References

{{authority control 1974 songs Van Morrison songs Songs written by Van Morrison Song recordings produced by Van Morrison