# Today I learned that Rick James and Neil Young were in a band together

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-i-learned-that-rick-james-and-neil-young-were-in-a-band-together/918806>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 23, 2020, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-i-learned-that-rick-james-and-neil-young-were-in-a-band-together/918806 "2020-08-23T07:31:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-i-learned-that-rick-james-and-neil-young-were-in-a-band-together/918806/1 "2020-08-23T07:31:28Z")

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[The Mynah Birds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mynah_Birds), which also included Bruce Palmer (who would go on to be in Buffalo Springfield with Young) and Goldy McJohn and Nick St Nicholas, who would later go on to form Steppenwolf.

I’m honestly unsure from that article what exactly any of the lineups of the band were, but James (who was in Canada dodging the draft) was a constant, from when it started until it ended (with his arrest for the whole ‘draft dodging’ thing, when they went to record their first album at Motown), so he was in with all of the others, even if they weren’t all together.

Listening to some of their songs (recorded before James was nabbed, but not released until a few years back), I can hear elements of where the various members would evolve to, but it’s definitely its own thing.

[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tQTE8hKvaaI/hqdefault.jpg "The Mynah Birds - It's My Time w)Rick James & Neil Young") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQTE8hKvaaI)

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SEQYRAUFXgU/maxresdefault.jpg "I Got You (In My Soul)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEQYRAUFXgU)

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**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-i-learned-that-rick-james-and-neil-young-were-in-a-band-together/918806/2 "2020-08-23T15:12:58Z")

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That is so cool to know.

I love both of these guys.

Actually saw Neil Young live once at Farm Aid–he put on a very good show and it sounded great.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-i-learned-that-rick-james-and-neil-young-were-in-a-band-together/918806/3 "2020-08-23T17:14:56Z")

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Moved from MPSIMS to Cafe Society.

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**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-i-learned-that-rick-james-and-neil-young-were-in-a-band-together/918806/4 "2020-08-23T17:19:38Z")

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Neil freaks (e before i) are aware of this. Something else the masses might not know is that Neil Young was signed to Motown Records.