Song Of The Day 1/23/2014: The Mynah Birds - "It's My Time"

Before They Were Famous: By now it's well-known in the Crazy Horse Nation that Neil Young was briefly in a band fronted by none other than Rick James, of "I'm Rick James, bitch" fame. Young was plying his considerable wares in and around Toronto. James, going by the name Ricky James Matthews, was a Buffalo kid who was AWOL from the Naval Reserves and hiding out in Canada. They found each other and formed the Mynah Birds, who from the sound of "It's My Time" could have bridged the gap between R&B and folk-rock.

The Mynah Birds were signed to Motown Records -- the first group with caucasians to ever be inked to the label -- and made some tracks in Detroit, until James got caught for his military desertion. The music was shelved and that was it for the Mynah Birds. Young and fellow Mynah Bird Bruce Palmer went on to form Buffalo Springfield. Rick James went to prison for a year, clawed his way to the top of the R&B charts and passed away -- oh, man, has it already been 9 years? Jeez.