In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing. This week, in advance of Valentine’s Day, we’re talking about songs we’ve used (or would like to use) to win a crush over.
Long, long ago, when people were still making actual mixtapes, I discovered Darondo’s “Didn’t I.” A plaintive ballad from a San Francisco singer who released three 45s in the early ’70s before basically disappearing from public life, “Didn’t I” isn’t exactly a romantic track so much as it is a needy one. Not needy in the drive-someone-away sense, but needy in that it finds Darondo plaintively asking whoever dumped him if there’s anything more he could have done. He asks his woman to “bring me all your troubles, dear,” says she looks bad, but “should be glad,” and says she should let him “kiss [her] lovely lips.” More than anything, he “tried [his] best just to be a man,” so much so that he can’t understand what went wrong.