Darondo - Didn’t I
This is one of the best single song discoveries I’ve made in a really long time. Anyone who hears this song and doesn’t absolutely love it as soon as the vocals drop needs to check for a heartbeat. I actually just heard it at the end of an episode of Breaking Bad and googled the lyrics to find out the name (God bless the Internet). Apparently nobody really knew who Darondo was until BBC 1 DJ Gilles Peterson dug up this single, played it on his show, and then eventually released the track on a compilation called Gilles Peterson Digs America.
Also, legend has it that Darondo was a pimp, though he denies this claim. There’s also a fairly strange passage on his Wikipedia page that I’ll just quote verbatim:
“Darondo recorded three singles and played four shows in the ’70s, and then stopped and drove home in his Rolls Royce after he opened for James Brown. Later he traveled the world collecting interesting artifacts, became the king of Bay Area cable with three shows per day, and worked as a physical therapist coaxing patients to walk again.”
Right…
Darondo, ladies and gentlemen - soul singer, pimp, hoarder, and worker of miracles.
