Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers - Malinda (Gordy Records 1968)

Bobby Taylor (1934 - 2017) & the Vancouvers were a soul band from Vancouver, British Columbia. Briefly signed to Motown Records in the late 1960s, they had one top 30 hit single, "Does Your Mama Know About Me". As a producer and solo artist, Bobby Taylor contributed to several other soul recordings, both inside and outside of Motown. Taylor is most notable for discovering and mentoring The Jackson 5. Tommy Chong was a member of Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers before he became famous as a comedian.

In 1965, Supremes members Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard heard the band — whose repertoire consisted primarily of Motown covers — at the Elegant Parlor in Vancouver, and alerted Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr.. Gordy brought the Vancouvers to Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan, and signed them to his Gordy Records imprint. By this time the evolving lineup consisted of Taylor, Henderson and Chong along with guitarist Eddie Patterson, organist Robbie King, and drummer Duris Maxwell (aka Ted Lewis), the latter three having come as a package when the original Vancouvers merged with another local group, the Good Shepherds. Claims have been made that future star guitarist Jimi Hendrix played with them in those early days, but Chong has been quoted as saying that any such appearance is a product of Taylor's "imagination." Hendrix and Taylor knew each other from their early days in the Seattle-Tacoma area, and Hendrix later jammed onstage with the Vancouvers in Europe.

The group recorded its debut album, an eponymous release, and their debut single, the Tommy Chong co-composition "Does Your Mama Know About Me," peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On July 22, 2017, Bobby Taylor died from cancer in Hong Kong. He was 83 years old.

Malinda's the girl (girl)
Who came to my world
And made my interest
In all other girls stop

Malinda's a dream (dream)
Beauty to the extreme
Malinda is the cream of the crop

So many guys in love
With my Malinda (they can't get her)
You ought to see the presents
Others send her

Trying to make her surrender
Surrender them some of that tender
Love she's giving me (Malinda)

Oh, but she doesn't know
She'll never go
She's where she'd rather be

In the arms of a man
Who fits in her plan
(Fits into her plan)
She lets them know that man is me

So many guys have
Tried for my Malinda
(But they can't get her)
From the Casanovas
To the real big spenders

But all they do is offend her
Offend Malinda and send her
Calling out to me
In a lover's speed
Love me tenderly

(Malinda) oh
(Malinda, I love Malinda)
I love Malinda
(Yeah, Malinda Malinda)
(I love Malinda)
Ooh, I love that girl (yeah)

Ain't gonna let no
Jill or Jane or Brenda
(Any one of those girls)
Come between me and my Malinda

I'll never let another girl hinder
The chance that Malinda's gonna
Spend her every night and day
Satisfy this day
In love with me this way

(Malinda, Malinda, I love Malinda)
Oh, she only has eyes for me (yeah)
(Malinda, Malinda, I love Malinda)
Yeah, she gives up all the
Other guys for me (yeah)

(Malinda, Malinda, I love Malinda)
She is mine, all mine
That's the way it was meant to be