Songoftheday 3/5/14 - You don't need no finesse or no personality, you just need two arms and an attitude...

The Time - "The Bird"
from the album Ice Cream Castle (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2

Today's Song of the Day is by the energetic funk band from Minneapolis, The Time, who parlayed their appearance in Prince's Purple Rain as his rival band to a top-20 hit with "Jungle Love" in the beginning of 1985. For the follow-up single, they released the frenetic dance track "The Bird", written by Prince under the moniker of Jamie Starr along with Time lead singer Morris Day and guitarist Jesse Johnson. These three are the only people on the recording, though the whole band would tear this up live...

"The Bird" became the band's second top-40 pop hit April of 1985, while besting the previous single at #6 on the dance club play list. The record also made it up to #33 on the R&B chart in Billboard. Later that year, the band split apart, with Day going solo and the band members following other projects (a few stayed under Prince's aegis under the name The Family). They ended up reuniting in 1990 for their biggest hit yet "Jerk Out"...

Up tomorrow:  a foot loose kind of guy is the voice of the people...