Association, The - No Fair At All Lyrics

Jim Yester has a beautiful voice.

Definitely 1 of the best top 5 vocal groups of all time !

Bonitos arreglos en las voces. Un saludo desde Colombia.

ONE OF THE ALL TIME GREATS !

After "Cherish", their next two releases (this one and "Pandora's Heebie Jeebies") fell kind of flat. It got some air play in the SF bay area in late winter of '67, but failed to crack the local radio music charts. Better days were ahead. "Windy" was just around the corner.

Sooo Beautiful!!

On of my favorite "guilty pleasure" bands. Vocal harmony heaven.

23 thumbs down? Sad lives out there, sadly, and that is no fair at all.

Simply beautiful.

Are they still around?

Love this song!

Great melody by them on this song!

I think it is the founder who plays that flute or penny whistle. It adds an extra , original dimension to their Classic soft ballads. . The Beach Boys definitely broke new ground but I think the Association laid the groundwork for the groups like Bread and Seals and Croft’s that came later in the 70s

Terry Kirkman on recorder and sometimes flute!!

The green album cover is awesome!!!

Probably their best song, although not their most popular.

Yes indeed the most beautiful sounds their voices are so lovely many sweet memories Love ❤️ them

They say; a song is like a time machine....it can take you back to better days. This song does just that!

Great music group of the 60s Assocations .

I will see the group live in August in Happy Together tour at Northfield Park (Ohio) Rocksino.

I've never seen this side of you before
Till now
I never knew that you could feel this way
Till now
After all the time we spent together
Just doesn't seem fair
At all
No fair at all
Never seen the moonlight through your hair
Till now
Never heard the sweet things you could say
Till now
After all the time we spent together
Just doesn't seem fair
At all
No fair at all

The Girl that broke my heart 1969

Cannot get this song out of my head. Just recently discovered it, don't know how I missed it years ago. Another great Jim Yester song......I think.

Sounds like the works of Jim Yester. Best of the Best from the 60s!! What a group!

Maybe I'm just old but this sets me down a lovely quite winding road
peaceful and free. I could dance to this tune all evening long......

Maria .... believe me , I know where you're comin from ✌🏻

Beautiful Song! If No Fair At All had been released right after Cherish, being as it has a similar sound, I feel it would have charted higher than #51. Instead it got lost being released after Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies, which also might a charted higher than #35 if it were released right after Alone Comes Mary. Alas, Moot Point!

poop hate it so much

Susan Bradley, it was no fair at all. I love you still, and always will

the association and the grass roots are 2 great bands...they don't get the recognition they deserve.

Paul Revere & the Raiders, Turtles, Tommy James and the Shondells fit in there too, deserving.

Muy muy buenos los Asociations. Puro sonido californiano de los años 60. Fantásticos.

This song still makes me fill up, and so thankful for the love I found in my Ruth. Still together and so in love.

you are truly blessed because true love is very very very hard to find if ever

One of the first albums I ever bough. This was one of those songs that didn't get the attention it deserved. Always wanted to see these guys -- was bummed when I found my sisters recently saw them and didn't tell me. Next year!

great harmonies and fantastic song

This was my favorite - I would always borrow the Greatest Hits album from the library so I could listen to this song

This was my favorite by the Association-- very well produced and performed version of the song in 1966.

What a beautiful sound, group and song! You were either in love or just breaking up. This group deserves the Hall more than many of the artists that are there. I will always love this song years from now b/c of the memories attached to it. .♡♡♡

Another YT amateur with a vid with very low volume. Great song posted by a doofus.

The only thing that probably is keeping them out of the hall is that even though they made great records they were kept from playing on any of their records. Bones Howe would always bring in the Wrecking Crew to play all the instruments while the boys sang. Of course, they would play their own instruments on stage and they were a great live band.

@captainsoul1953 Yeah. That probably was true for the latter albums and singles, but with the exception of the vocals, they were forced to bring in the Wrecking Crew guys for the instrumentation on the early stuff.

Brian Washington nope.....a mixture on the first album....played all on the second..Terry played all wind and brass on all the records......the WC were used on i

WC were used on Insight Out and Birthday on insistence of producer Bones Howe...though Terry always did brass and woodwind

Brian Washington just the first single A and B

they played all ofthis one

An utter travesty that they're not in the bogus Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So did I Dave. I knew Larry at one time.

I was   a baby during their heyday, but I agree.  Their harmony was incredible.

Bogus is right on!

I think they have a sort of pop music hall of fame award

R n Roll induction group led by Werner of Rolling Stone mag never set criteria for a Rock and Roll HOF. It truly is bogus because it never kept to this genre. They actually inducted Nat King Cole. When rap was included that absolutely disqualified the concept of a rock hall of fame. No Los Lobos, Little Feat, Doobies, Paul Revere and the Raiders, William Clarke (great blues harpist) makes it biased too.

Which of these guys is actually Marco Rubio's real father? Hint: it could be any of them. Seriously, my favorite track -- still -- by this outstanding ensemble. Which of us hasn't lived these lyrics at least once?

mike michael - Although the Mamas and Papas were great , for me The Association were the superior group - and much tighter vocally! The Association sounded consistently fabulous in concert whereas the Mamas and Papas sounded good one night lousy the next - they were great in the studio but weren't normally great in concert.

I know where you are coming from Mike. I made sure, that every one of my shows, had a thousand per cent imput, to be a professional entertainer, as I was, you had to do that. I missed 4 shows, in over 40 years, and I was in hospital for each of them.

such a beautiful song The Association

Did anyone know that (MaMa) Cass Elliot actually went to the first tryout meeting of what became the association?  She knew it was not going to be for her and didn't go back

Love the Recorder solo in this...

I'm pretty sure that's the flute you hear, since Terry could play the flute.

Jim Yester, in the liner notes to the Japanese _From The Original Master
Tapes_ CD (Warner/Pioneer WPCP-3536):

Inspired musically by the 1940's tune, "Return To Paradise", this
bittersweet ballad features another of the group's signature sounds, the
Soprano Recorder.

I played in a band called The Majority in the early 70's and we re-recorded this song on the Polydor label in about 1973.  It went to #24 on the MOR stations at that time and made us absolutely no money at all.  I always love the song though.

+Rick Jones that's cool, would love to hear it.

+October Sun .  Unfortunately the recording is on a 45 rpm vinyl and I am a computer idiot so I have no idea how to put us on here.  If you want to hear the Majority, go to Pete Dowan on youtube and click on the song (He's a) Grand Old Man.  This was our ALMOST hit.

Ok I'll check it out! 

I combination of Beach Boys and Beatles but, more Beach Boys.

From back in the days when a handful was a big deal.

The Association is my guilty pleasure

@Christopher Patriarca Ditto.......

nothing guilty about it.

One of the members --Russ G. I believe, once said that the songs  [ of the group] were far bigger than they were, as individual band members. I think that's really true. Only real fans of this group can tell the members names, & in truth, it WAS the music that mattered.  This masterpiece was written by Jim Yester, sung by he & Terry Kirkman together on lead.  Late '66, early '67, in Denver.         Wolfsky9, 68 y/o Now

Absolutely lovely. One of the best groups in all eternity. So underrated. Beautiful memories. Heartfelt thanks guys.

Marie, I agree 100% I was in high school when they came out. The school dances were fabulous especially when the slow songs like Cherish were played. Since us guys didn't have any rythym ( I don't know if I even spelled it right) we always waited for the slow songs to hopefully snuggle up to the cute girls. Lord, it was a fun and innocent time then.

I saw them last year.  They were great!  Go see them if they are playing near you. Suzanne,  I still love you.

One of their most melodic and poignant songs. One of there best.

THERE / THEIR / THEY'RE... ugh!

Gorgeous & heartbreaking. And for me all too true, with the memory of a girl named Tami.       Wolfsky9

December, 1966, I'm visiting a buddy in his apartment outside Cincinnati.  Then, as I sit waiting for him I hear a voice in the next apt.  My ex girl friend who I still missed terribly.  Broke my heart.

Agree....one of their best...if not THE best...late Summer '66....memories of a beach-side job that Summer...great parties and a plethora of fine ladies.

great song...also from my youth...

This was originally a Racket Squad hit written by Sonny DiNunzio!

No, this was written by Jim Yester of the Association.

We appreciate the same music. Thank you

This played the airwaves in Phoenix when I was in college. (I managed to cram eight semesters of college into nine years.) The song always reminds me of my wife, and our children when they were small. On February 3, 2013, we celebrated our 50th anniversary. We spent at the hospital as my wife had a successful transplant four days before. This week, the third week of February, 2014, we had a mini-reunion. Our six children (two of whom are adopted) our 12 grandchildren, and our five great-grandchildren were together with us. I am playing this song to remind myself how God blesses so very much.

My Friend who I never meet........God Bless You and Your Family....I lost my son (26 years old) just 4 months ago and this song speaks to life in general.

 

@Patricia Rice So sorry for the loss of your son. My son just turned 27 last week. I cannot imagine your pain. You are in my prayers. Remind yourself that you gave your son 26 good years with you. I teach in a residential psychiatric facility and so many of our kids have  no loving mom or dad. Their parents have substance abuse issues and the kids get thrown aside. Your son's life may have been short, but I hope his years on this earth were great. You will see him in the next live and he lives on through you. thanks for sharing your heart break. Sheila

@Sheila Ganung -Thank you for your kind thoughts. God Bless You and For The Work You Do...

Heart warming story, Jim. The only thing that matters in the long run is your children.

Yes God does bless

more than most groups the Association provided the music for my 60's

Early album version has a solo vocal by Jim Yester

The Association!
My all-time favorite group!

Great ballad, great multi-layered harmonies from the Association, early 1967. Song song should've been as big as "Cherish" or "Never My Love". Covered by Pittsburgh's Racket Squad about a year later.

We lived in Monroe Wisconsin and we listened to WLS all the time. One year we went on vacation to Lower O'clare lake in Northern WI and at night we picked up WLS out in the boondocks. Oh and I love this song.

Late Summer, 1966.....a summer job at a beach hotel, south of Boston....many great memories.... this song put a cap on the summer....I was sad that it ended....hence,"No Fair At All"

No impact on American radio what so ever back then! I grew up in that period my ear glued to the top 40 stations. I have an unusually vivid memory of the music in the 60's era. This song is nowhere in my memory to make any mark. I would have to conclude that Northern California radio stations(where I grew up) at the time barely played it. Funny, it was a semi hit in Vancouver Canada...Go figure. My opinion of this song now that I just played it.....Meh. The Association had better songs. Sorry.

They all have great voices. I have beautiful memories of my two favorite songs by them. Never My Love and Cherish.

Another song I listen to and wonder,"Why wasn't this a bigger hit?" Didn't even make top 40 here, though i recall reading somewhere that it was a big hit in The Philipines of all places.

to me this group is the 60's

From, late winter--Feb/ March, of '67, an all-time " hidden classic", that ought to have been a monster hit! Note -Perfect harmony, & a heartbreaking lyric. Wolfsky9

what wonderful harmonies

Maybe their best song ever.

yeah...my 1st daughter too. LoL!!

after all the time we spent together, just doesn't seem fair at all ♥

wls.....Chicaaaago!

Looking glass and No fair at all werent rerecorded as such... they had the solo vocals replaced with group ensemble harmony for 45 release.....early versions of the album had the first versions and later issues had the 45 versions with a logo on the sleeve...featuring Looking Glass and No Fair at all ...

A true, Hidden vocal Masterpiece, written by Jim Yester. Heartbreaking, & Beautiful. Wolfsky9

"The North Syde" - sang this song at the WLS "Big Break" Chicago 1969. We really poured our hearts into it.. Five part harmonies..will forever remember our moment in the sun...

@littlemikey1954 thanks for the cool facts!

@19Chuck80 Well, that depends! The 45 on Valiant was the original hit version that should've been a bigger hit. It was a beautiful song. The Association recorded their 2nd album, RENAISSANCE on Valiant, while touring. For some reason, they had to re-record a stereo version of "No Fair At All" for the album, which was horrible. Jim told me (in 1995) that the vocals sounded so bad because he had a cold and his voice was gone.

no band brings back the 60's like the Association

@jajus125100 Thanks for the note! I have not seen them yet, Jim,Russ, and Larry are touring with the some other groups in a : Happy Together " tour. Hope they get close to my location.
Wish all the retired members would come back for a few concerts, I think it would be wonderful and sucessfull, A lot of baby boomers would like to see them again in concert.

@sssmmitt Hi,! maybe a little late reaction , but i know the assosiation , like You since they were born , and allways loved them .. hope you saw them again , if You did , please tell me all about it , untill that moment, i hope to hear what or where they are today .. Take care !

Nice vocal by Jim Yester.

@SerenaBay
Right you are, SerenaBay. This song became no. 1 in the Philippines in 1968. I was a junior then, and this was a favorite song in my high school especially in light of the fact the the annual school fair was cancelled that year, thus, literally No Fair At All for us at La Salle Green Hills.

this is the later WB or "W7" version first featured and re-recorded for them...I like Valiant Version better, thanks,,,

@destinysdarlin1 My heartfelt thanks to you for such kind words. Funny isn't it--a song, especially a great one as this is, stays with us, no matter what, no matter how long. I can listen & right away, it's that cold winter night in early '67, once again. Music truly is, a people connector, & a time machine. Wolfsky9, 65 y/o in 4 weeks.

This one got air play in the SF bay area around Feb of '67 but failed to crack the local "charts". Good song. I like the recorder lead during the instr. interlude. Not quite as tight production-wise as some of their others (vocal obbligato at the end is out of tune). But still a nice memory from a fine band.

one of my favorite groups back in "the day". Unfortunately it marked me as being different @ the time. I'm so glad if it now :-)

To sssmmitt...my sentiments EXACTLY. This has always been my favorite Association song. They played at my HS Graduation (University High, WLA '66) and I saw them in '67 at Ravina Park, Northshore of Chicago. I saw them again performing at a park in Thousand Oaks, Ca in the early 2000s. Why THIS song didn't "make it" in the States is beyond me. Apparently, it was a huge hit in the Philippines. Thank you Charlesathome for the brilliant post.

One of the best songs, and groups for that matter, of the sixties - right up there with the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons, and the rest of the greatest groups that ever existed!

This song takes me back to the 60's when I was young and loose and full of juice. LOL. It's hard to believe that this song and myself have aged this much. :) A
favorite of mine.

In Denver, on Boss Radio 950 AM, KIMN, this song hit the charts in Winter, '66 /'67. I remeber, because of a girl named Tami, who broke up with me--in my car-while this song was playing. She & I both cried--I didn't understand why--if she loved me, she was leaving me. The song has always--& will Forever, take me back to Tami, & that moment. GBY Tami, & RIP. Wolfsky9

I was born in 1972 but the Association is awesome. Listening to this makes me feel as if I was in the 60's, without the horrors of Vietnam.

OMG, I'm in tears now--this one did it. The memories are like a tidal wave. Tami, Oh Tami. Wolfsky9

Another vastly underated, unknown song by the Association. Jim Yester of the group wrote this masterpiece. The Association were a fabulous, talented group that never got their dues! I have to go see them again soon!

Ok, fans.....let's start a "petition" drive to our DJs on all the oldies stations out there to get the Association into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If any band deserves it, they do for all the great songs they did in the 60s. This is going to be a grass roots effort but hopefully somebody will listen. All in favor, say "aye".

Man.. thats a beautiful song!!!

yeah...that's the ticket!...the golden ticket !

One of my very favorite Association songs. Takes me back to whaen it was released and missing a girl I really liked in high school. Great to hear it and great posting!