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Forums > Prince: Music and More > Prince’s original version of ‘Yo Mister’ gives me David Bowie vibes
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Thread started 08/10/20 11:00pm

AvocadosMax

Prince’s original version of ‘Yo Mister’ gives me David Bowie vibes

Maybe its in the way he sings it... especially the first verse...
Does anyone else hear Bowie singing it?... or am I crazy...
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Reply #1 posted 08/11/20 9:14am

TrivialPursuit

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I can feel ya on that. Bowie almost had monotonic approach to singing verses. He wasn't a particularly skilled singer, but he knew how to manipulate his voice and use it to stay interesting and keep the listener guessing.

Prince's vocal kind of falls into that monotonic area a bit. It's sang in a lower register to begin with, and it was probably approached as a guide vocal. I would imagine if he had intended to release it, he may have rerecorded that vocal a bit.

But the version as it stands definitely has that monotone Bowie vibe.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #2 posted 08/11/20 7:29pm

laytonian

Prince's "Yo Mister" is the only Prince version of a song that I like less than the one recorded by anyone else. I guess the monotone voice is what does it?
It's not really a guide vocal. It's more just fitting the words into the production.

Welcome to "the org", laytonian… come bathe with me.
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Reply #3 posted 08/11/20 8:11pm

lustmealways

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there are many words i would use to describe this vocal on this recording, but monotone is not one of them...

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Reply #4 posted 08/11/20 9:46pm

TrivialPursuit

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Y'all really get stuck on one word and run with it, huh? Okay then.

"eye don’t really care so much what people say about me because it is a reflection of who they r."
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Reply #5 posted 08/12/20 4:35am

dodger

I get a Camille and Patti LaBelle vibe.

The Patti thing is probably just psychological because she sang it but just read on Pvault the basic tracks were recorded in Nov 86 just 6 days after the Camille album..

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Reply #6 posted 08/12/20 5:11am

jstar69

Let’s hope this and 101 get a release by the estate SOON
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Reply #7 posted 08/12/20 7:41am

bsprout

I can’t say Bowie vibes ever occurred to me when listening to this song, but I get the connection. It’s such an 80s song, and in this sense I can see where it fits in with Bowie’s mid-80s sound. I remember the video used to be on rotation in 1987, on this free video TV station we had in NY. It was always: Yo Mister (Patti LaBelle version), that catchy song from Nu Shoes, and the one with Max Headroom. Lol. I never knew this was a Prince song until a few years ago, when someone on the Org mentioned it and posted a link to the video (which I hadn’t seen since the 80s). Leave it to Prince to create this song with a great beat and then dark and disturbing lyrics to match.
I really hope it’s included in the next Originals release.
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