"You Don't Pull No Punches, but You Don't Push the River" is a nine-minute song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter
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 ...
. It appears on the 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 ...
'', released in 1974.
Writing and song origins
"You Don't Pull No Punches, but You Don't Push the River" was written on Morrison's three-week trip to Ireland in October 1973, along with seven other songs that featured on ''Veedon Fleece''.
According to Morrison's biographer
Johnny Rogan
John Rogan (14 February 1953 – 21 January 2021) was a British author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He wrote influential biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Davies. ...
, the song begins as a love song celebrating a young girl's childhood and then goes into a journey along the west coast of Ireland and then suddenly goes into a mythological search for an object he calls the "Veedon Fleece".
The Veedon Fleece, a phrase from the song, was used as the title of the album.
Steve Turner believes that "The Veedon Fleece ... appears to be Van's Irish equivalent of the Holy Grail a religious relic that would answer his questions if he could track it down on his quest around the west coast of Ireland."
[Turner, ''Too Late to Stop Now'', p.123] Morrison later revealed that he came up with the Veedon Fleece as a character for the song: "I haven't a clue about what the title means. It's actually a person's name. I have a whole set of characters in my head that I'm trying to fit into things. ''Veedon Fleece'' is one of them and I just suddenly started singing it in one of these songs, It's like a stream of consciousness thing."
A book entitled, ''Don't Push the River (It Flows by Itself)'' by
Barry Stevens about her use of
Gestalt therapy
Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility and focuses on the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist–client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life ...
was published in 1970.
Morrison admitted—that "aside from 'flashes of Ireland'—the song had 'other flashes on other kinds of people. I was also reading a couple of books at the time ...
here'sa bit of Gestalt theory in it, too." In the song Morrison refers to
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
and the Eternals from Blake's ''
The Book of Urizen
''The Book of Urizen'' is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as ''The First Book of Urizen'' in 1794. Later editions dropped the "First". The book ...
''. This is the first time that Morrison name checks Blake in one of his songs. The
Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
, also mentioned in the song, is a religious organisation of women founded in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, Ireland.
Composition
Musically, it combines a woodwind section and strings, both played in blocked
chords.
The song is played at a moderate
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
in the key of
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable composi ...
. The Em-C
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
lasts throughout the duration of the piece. The song's introduction consists of Ralph Wash's acoustic guitar playing chords on the upper registers of the instrument, with James Trumbo playing the
legato
In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French ''lié''; German ''gebunden'') indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, the player makes a transition from note to note wit ...
melody on piano in 12/8 time. Morrison then starts to
scat, repeating the same melody twice. The second time is accompanied by Jim Rothermel's flute, playing the same rhythm. The transition between the real and mythological phases is transmitted in a dramatic fashion with the use of flute and strings.
Recording
The song originally lasted twelve minutes, so pianist
Jef Labes
Jef Labes is an American keyboardist and musician. He is best known from his work with Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt. Jef Labes has also arranged for string and woodwind instruments on numerous albums.
Career
Labes started his recording career ...
suggested a cut, which got it down to just under nine minutes. He later wrote the string and woodwind arrangements, as drummer Dahaud Shaar observes:
'You Don't Pull No Punches' is a pretty long track. hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
that happened, it was just acoustic guitar, bass, drums and piano, and that was the track, and it went the whole distance. It was like a nice sine wave. ef Labes laterbuilt the string arrangement around that from the parts that were already played.
Response
"You Don't Pull No Punches, but You Don't Push The River" is often considered to be one of Morrison's most accomplished compositions, as biographer
Johnny Rogan
John Rogan (14 February 1953 – 21 January 2021) was a British author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He wrote influential biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Davies. ...
confirms in 2006: "Morrison's most accomplished composition to date, an experimental peak which took a step beyond even his most ambitious work."
[Rogan. ''No Surrender'', pp.299–300]
In ''The Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: Van Morrison'' Jason Anderson describes "You Don't Pull No Punches, but You Don't Push The River" as "the mesmerising nine-minute centrepiece" of ''Veedon Fleece''.
Personnel
*
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 ...
– guitar, vocal
*Teressa Adams – cello
*
David Hayes – bass guitar
*James Rothermel – flute
*Nathan Rubin – violin
*Jack Schroer –
soprano saxophone
*Dahaud Shaar (David Shaw) – drums
*James Trumbo – piano
*Ralph Wash – guitar
*
Jef Labes
Jef Labes is an American keyboardist and musician. He is best known from his work with Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt. Jef Labes has also arranged for string and woodwind instruments on numerous albums.
Career
Labes started his recording career ...
– string and woodwind arrangements
Notes
References
*
Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press
*
Hinton, Brian (1997). ''Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison'', Sanctuary,
*
Rogan, Johnny (2006). ''
Van Morrison: No Surrender'', London: Vintage Books
*
Turner, Steve (1993). ''
Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now'', Viking Penguin,
*''Van Morrison Anthology'', Los Angeles: Alfred Music Publishing, 1999,
{{Authority control
Van Morrison songs
1973 songs
Irish songs
Songs written by Van Morrison
Song recordings produced by Van Morrison