Didn't I

Recorded in 1973 at Ray Dobard's Music City studio in Oakland, California, Didn't I featured Berkeley singer and guitarist Darondo, born William Daron Pulliam, working with pianist and arranger John Al Tanner. The recording combined Darondo's overdubbed falsetto and baritone vocals with restrained guitar, flute and string arrangements. Originally released on Music City Records in October 1973 as the B-side of Listen to My Song, Didn't I became a regional success through radio airplay in the San Francisco Bay Area and sold sufficiently well to receive a second pressing. Its intimate vocal performance and understated arrangement distinguished Darondo within the independent soul recording scene of the early 1970s. Didn't I achieved international recognition after Gilles Peterson featured it on his BBC Radio 1 programme and included it on the 2005 compilation Gilles Peterson Digs America. Its rediscovery led to the 2006 anthology Let My People Go on Ubiquity's Luv N' Haight imprint, reviving Darondo's career and establishing the recording as a celebrated example of previously overlooked American soul music.