"Didn't We" is a song recorded by Irish singer and actor

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...

for his debut studio album, '' A Tramp Shining'' (1968). It was written and produced by

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21. During his career, he established himself as one of Am ...

and originally served as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to Harris' 1968 single "

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and la ...

". "Didn't We" was then distributed as the record's single by

Dunhill Records Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distribute ...

, also in 1968. A

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known ...

song, Harris sings about his life in the past. Commercially, it charted at lower positions of both the United States and Canada, and in the higher ranks of their

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

component charts. Harris featured "Didn't We" on several of his

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

s, including ''The Richard Harris Collection: His Greatest Performances'' from 1973. That same year, the song was reissued as a

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

paired alongside his 1971 single "

My Boy "My Boy" is a popular song from the early 1970s. The music was composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and Claude François, and the lyrics were translated from the original version "Parce que je t'aime, mon enfant" (Because I Love You My Child) into ...

". American vocalist

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

recorded a version of "Didn't We" in 1972 for her second

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

, ''

Live Concert at the Forum ''Live Concert at the Forum'' (retitled ''Barbra Streisand Live'' in Canada) is the second live album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released physically on October 1, 1972, by Columbia Records. Produced by long-time collaborator Richard Pe ...

''. It was originally performed at Four for McGovern, a concert benefitting

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

's ultimately unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign. Streisand's monologue before and after the performance consisted of her acting as if she had taken

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

. Her version peaked at number 82 in the United States, and also entered the Adult Contemporary charts in both the aforementioned country and Canada. She has since included an earlier version of "Didn't We" on her 2012

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

, '' Release Me''. Other artists like

Matt Monro Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons; 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career and sold a reported 23 million records. AllMus ...

and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

also recorded renditions of "Didn't We".

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

recorded "Didn't We" for her 1970 album ''I'll Never Fall in Love Again''.

Background and composition

"Didn't We" was originally featured as the

track to Harris's 1968 single "

". That same year, it was distributed as a standalone 7" record, serving as the second single from his debut studio album, '' A Tramp Shining'' (1968). Various formats exist, all of them including "Didn't We" as the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

track; the United Kingdom release features "In the Final Hours" while the United States version has "Paper Chase" instead. It was reissued as a

in 1973 and features Harris's 1971 single "

". It was written and produced by

, who Harris had collaborated previously with. A

recording, "Didn't We" is written in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

with Harris's vocals ranging from E₄ to G₅; it is accompanied by the instrumentation of a piano and a guitar. Lyrically, Harris recalls the past and opens the single by singing, "This time we almost made the pieces fit / Didn't we girl?".

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Matthew Greenwald acclaimed the production of "Didn't We". He stated that it is "home to one of Jimmy Webb's most enduring melodies" and described its arrangement as elegant. In the 24 May 1969 edition of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', an editor recognized "Didn't We" in the "Special Merit Spotlight" column, where the publication reports designated singles "deserving fspecial attention". The critic noted its potential "sales appeal" and singled out its programming as a highlight. Michael Feeney Callan, the author of a biography for Harris, wrote that the composition was one of the singer's more "intimate ndorchestral tracks". In mid 1969, "Didn't We" managed to chart on the major

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

s in both the United States and Canada. On the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, it debuted at number 83 for the week ending June 7, 1969, becoming the week's highest new entry. Five weeks later, the single reached its peak position at number 63 and then departed the chart altogether the following week. On Canada's Top Singles compiled by ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'', it entered the chart at number 95 on June 16 of the same year, before rising to number 82 the following week and number 73 the week after that. It also peaked on the Adult Contemporary charts in both the United States and Canada, reaching positions 11 and nine, respectively.

Cover versions and other usage

Several recording artists and musicians have covered "Didn't We". The earliest one was American singer

's rendition, which appeared on his 27th studio album, ''

My Way "My Way" is Paul Anka's English-language lyrical adaptation of the French song " Comme d'habitude", released by Frank Sinatra in 1969. The original song was written by Jacques Revaux, Gilles Thibaut, and Claude François, and was first recor ...

'' (1969), to which

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

from AllMusic likened it as a "rock cover". O. C. Smith released a version of the song for his 1969 album, O.C. Smith at Home. Former Temptations falsetto crooner

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American tenor singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temp ...

recorded a version of this ballad, which was the closing track to his 1971 debut album, ''

All By Myself "All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen, released by Arista Records in December 1975 as the first single from Carmen's self-titled debut album. The verse is based on the second movement (''Adagio sostenuto'') of Russ ...

''. New Zealand singer

Bunny Walters Bunny Te Kokiri Miha Waahi Walters (31 May 1953 – 14 December 2016) was a New Zealand singer who had a number of New Zealand hits during the 1970s. He is best known for the hits "Brandy" and "Take the Money and Run". Walters represented New Z ...

recorded a version which appeared as the B side of his 1971 single "Brandy". English singer

recorded a version for his 1973 album ''for The Present'' (reissued in 2004 as the

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...

''For the Present / The Other Side of the Stars'').

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

recorded a version that was released as a bonus track on a 2008 CD reissue of her 1970 album '' Make It with You''. As a tribute to Webb,

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...

placed it on his 25th studio album, '' Only One Life: The Songs of Jimmy Webb'' (2003). Music critic Aaron Litham, also from AllMusic, acclaimed it and wrote, "The quiet piano strains and Feinstein's reflective vocals tenderly deliver the song's bittersweet meaning as it being recording for the very first time." "Didn't We" is featured on several of Harris's

s. It was initially included on his first one, titled ''The Richard Harris Collection: His Greatest Performances'', which was released in 1973 by Dunhill. It also served as the opener and prelude on his second album in the series, ''The Webb Sessions: 1968-1969'' (1995), released exclusively in Australia. The aforementioned album was re-released in the United Kingdom under the name ''MacArthur Park: Richard Harris Sings the Songs of Jimmy Webb'' in 1997. "Didn't We" also appears on a collection of his singles, titled ''MacArthur Park'' (1972), released under the

budget album Budget albums (also known as unofficially by some collectors as either drugstore records or junk records) were low-priced vinyl LPs of popular and classical music released during the 1950s to 1970s consisting either of previously released materia ...

label Music for Pleasure.

Track listings and formats

;UK commercial 7" single * A1 "Didn't We" – 2:24 * B1 "In the Final Hours" – 2:45 ;UK promotional reissued 7" single * A1 "Didn't We" – 2:24 * B1 "

" – 3:16 ;US commercial 7" single * A1 "Didn't We" – 2:24 * B1 "Paper Chase" – 2:15

Charts

Barbra Streisand version

Background and reception

American vocalist Barbra Streisand recorded a version of "Didn't We" for her second

, ''

'' (1972). It was released as the record's third and final single and was recorded at Streisand's first concert in six years, titled "Barbra-Live!", on 15 April 1972. It was held at The Forum in

Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewoo ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; the event itself served as a concert to raise money for

's 1972 presidential campaign. To warn the public on the misuse of drugs and alcohol, the singer pretended as if she was under the influence of

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (June 18, 1942 – December 24, 2024) was an American record producer. He began his musical career as a performer while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late ...

produced this version while Claus Ogerman helped with the arrangements. The vinyl single release features the B-side track "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)", while the promotional release has the same A-side and B-side. Allison J. Waldman, author of ''The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook'', wrote that Streisand's performance of the single was "heartbreaking", while Linda Pohly, writer of ''The Barbra Streisand Companion'', felt as if it revealed her "slender musical frame" that can both "support or sustain".

Chart performance

"Didn't We" did not match the moderate commercial success that Harris's version was met with. However, it was heavily played on soul radio, according to Julian Coleman of ''

''. In the United States, it entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 9 December 1972, where it was placed at number 98. It increased its peak position slowly, reaching number 96 the following week, and stalling at number 95 for the next two weeks after that. Streisand's rendition finally reached its peak position on 20 January 1973, where it was ranked at number 82 on the Hot 100. It spent a total of eight weeks on the United States' chart, before dropping off at its final position on 27 January 1973, also at number 82. It also entered both of the Adult Contemporary charts in the United States and Canada (then titled the Easy Listening chart in the former country), peaked at numbers 22 and 46, respectively.

Promotion and other usage

Streisand sang "Didn't We" during her 2012-2013 concert tour,

Barbra Live Barbra Live was the sixth concert tour by American recording artist Barbra Streisand. Visiting North American and European markets, the tour was Streisand's first tour since 2006. Barbra Live was the 22nd best-selling tour in the world during 2 ...

. It was performed immediately after her 1963 rendition of "

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered "Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered)" is a show tune and popular song from the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical '' Pal Joey''. It is part of the Great American Songbook. The song was introduced by Vivienne Segal on December 25, 1940, in the Broa ...

" and before

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

's 1936 single "

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

". The song then appeared on her eighth live album, '' Back to Brooklyn'' (2013), and the accompanying DVD release of the same name. Streisand also included an earlier version of "Didn't We" on her compilation album, '' Release Me'', released in 2012. The record itself is a collection of rare and previously unreleased songs from Streisand's catalogue.

Track listings

;Standard edition 7" single * A1 "Didn't We" – 2:28 * B1 "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" – 2:08 ;Promotional 7" single * A1 "Didn't We" – 2:28 * B1 "Didn't We" – 2:28

Charts

References

Works cited * * * * * {{authority control 1968 singles 1968 songs 1973 singles Barbra Streisand songs Frank Sinatra songs Songs written by Jimmy Webb Richard Harris songs Pop ballads