he call himself Ricky Matthews (or Ricky James Matthews), after a cousin of hers who had died. At some point, the Sailorboys changed their name to the Mynah Birds, though the lineup shifted frequently. An amended line-up, comprising Rick James, St. Nicholas, Rick Cameron and guitarist Frank Arnel (aka Frank Iozzo), recorded "The Mynah Birds Song" for Columbia Records in late 1964 as a prospective single. However, the track was not deemed strong enough and a new track, "The Mynah Birds Hop", was recorded for the A-side. The second track saw James and Livingston trading vocals, backed by St Nicholas, Arnel, McJohn and drummer Richie Grand (born June 11, 1945 in Toronto, Ontario). The single was released in Canada in early 1965, but was not a hit. Shortly thereafter, Bruce Palmer joined the band in an unusual bass-player swap: Jack London & The Sparrows gave up Palmer to get Mynah Birds bassist St. Nicholas. Shortly after, a major split in the group left Matthews and Palmer to put together a new version of The Mynah Birds. In essence they absorbed a band from Brantford, Ontario, called the Bunkies - drummer Rickman Mason (born 1945) and guitarists Tom Morgan (born 1944) and John Taylor (1946 - 2002). Morgan was replaced by Neil Young in January 1966. (Singer Jimmy Livingson, after leaving The Mynah Birds in April 1965, joined The Muddy Yorks and then The Just Us, which evolved into The Tripp.) In early 1966, the Mynah Birds were signed to Motown Records. Shortly before recording began, bassist Bruce Palmer invited an acquaintance of his to join the band: local folk musician Neil Young. An article about the Mynah Birds in a May 1966 Billboard magazine indicated that their first single would be an original song called “I’ve Got You In My Soul.” That never happened, likely because somebody noticed that “I’ve Got You In My Soul” sounded remarkably similar to a 'Them' (the band fronted by Van Morrison) song called “Little Girl”. Still, the Mynah Birds completed a single that was prepared for release on Motown’s V.I.P. imprint, called “It’s My Time”. But the band’s manager apparently misappropriated their advance money from Motown and they fired him. In return, the manager informed Motown that the band’s singer was AWOL from the Navy. Matthews was taken into custody and incarcerated by the Navy. “It’s My Time” remained unreleased, and Motown scrapped plans