Rumored to have been written with
Elvis Presley 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 to be recorded by
the Grass Roots, who Barri had been producing for five years. However, the Grass Roots passed on the song, which Barri recalls the group considered "a bit light[weight]".
Joe Frank Carollo would recall how he and fellow band members Dan Hamilton and Tommy Reynolds were performing a
Creedence Clearwater Revival medley to audition for ABC-Dunhill when Steve Barri stopped the trio to play them the
demo of "Don't Pull Your Love" two or three times until the trio themselves could sing it for Barri, who then 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's horn and string arrangements were later overdubbed. The credits for their debut album, which included "Don't Pull Your Love", titled
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, lists the group members as musicians (
Dan Hamilton 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 – and keyboardist
Larry Knechtel. Both Correro (Carollo's second cousin) and Knechtel were prolific session musicians with Knechtel – who also played bass – being a regular member of famous 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 of "Don't Pull Your Love". Recorded in December 1970, "Don't Pull Your Love" was released April 1971 On the Top 100 Singles chart in
Cash Box 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. ==Chart performance==