I've been thinking of that song all day! But I can't find the lyrics! Who has It?

Yo Mister how’s your daughter
You really ought to know
For every thing you taught her
Don’t matter when she’s all alone

My crazy friend named Cara
After all of us told her, “No”
She givin’ up speed ball
Now she’s going nowhere stoned

Her papa caught her on the first time
And put her out on the street
Cara told me to remind him
That she was only 17

Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter)
You really ought to know
Every thing you taught her
It don’t matter when she’s all alone

Cara got hooked up with the wrong kids
Then she started skipping school
Then Cara got high top make disappear
A world full of fools

In her eyes her father was the biggest fool of ‘em all
And she was speeding, that’s what she’d say
Maybe, maybe, maybe she wouldn’t talk so stupid
If she knew whatever she needed is far too gone

Yo Mister how’s your daughter
You really ought to know
For every thing you taught her
Don’t matter when she’s all alone

She needs you right now Mister
‘Cause she ain’t got long to live
It’s so easy to say, “I love him”
But it’s hard to forget

Her father cried when I told him
That Cara twice got knocked up
He said, “Just like her mama, uh-huh
She shows her body when she wants to show love
She tried that stuff with me and I beat her down”
There’s no way I could let her stay
Couldn’t let her stick around
‘Cause I tried so hard to raise her right
He said, “What made her turn out this way”
I don’t know
What made her turn out this way
I don’t know, I don’t know
And I said and I said and I said

Yo Mister how’s your daughter
You really ought to know (Every thing)
Every thing you taught her
Don’t matter when she’s all alone

She needs you right now Mister
She ain’t got long to live
It’s so easy to say, “I love him”
But it’s hard to forget

Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)
Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)
Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)
Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)

This song has been on my mind recently, too! I've been thinking about posting about it for a couple of days now, so what the heck, I'll just respond to yours...

I just pulled out Patti Labelle's "Be Yourself" CD the other day after not listening to it for a while, and I'm in total awe of how unbelievable Prince's two songs on this album are--"Yo Mister" and "Love 89"! The songs are funky as all heckapoop, Patti's vocals are incredible, and Prince's backing vocals are spine-tingling.

As much as I love the entire "Yo Mister", the way the song kicks into overdrive around the 3 minute mark (right at the "cause I tried so hard to raise her right" lyric), with Prince's killer background vocals...man, this is right up there as one of my favorite parts of any Prince song.

"Love 89" also makes me do goofy things when I listen to it driving down the road--things I'm not embarrassed about until I sit down at the computer and think about how stupid I must've looked shakin' all about in my driver's seat.

(And I should note that even though I like her voice, I'm not really a big Patti Labelle fan otherwise--but the Prince/Patti LaBelle team IS magical. "I Hear Your Voice" from her "Burnin'" album is another highlight.)

The other Prince-written/produced song from this era that also kicks my keister is "101" by Sheena Easton; though her vocals, as hard as she tries, can't compare to the way Patti rips through her songs.

I'm getting all goose-pimply just thinking about the songs--I'm going to go throw the songs on and embarrass myself in front of the living room window now--adios!

(Before I go, here's a quick review of Patti's album I found:

"Patti LaBelle's 1989 album, Be Yourself, boasts a bevy of the day's brightest songwriters and producers, including the ubiquitous Diane Warren, who penned the album's lead single, "If You Asked Me To," which several years later became a massive hit for Celine Dion. Despite LaBelle's masterful, tear-inducing performance, the real gems on this set are two tunes written and produced by Prince: "Yo Mister," the set's second single (and a Top Ten R&B hit amazingly omitted from her 1996 Greatest Hits album), and "Love 89," which was co-written by Sheena Easton. These two songs find LaBelle at her funkiest -- they each have unstoppable beats, and despite the late-'80s production, still manage to sound fresh and undated, which is not entirely the case with the Full Force production "I Got It Like That." Other standouts include the funky title track, the melodic, Narada Michael Walden-produced "Still in Love," and the ballad "I Can't Complain." Most of the album's other ballads are toward the end, with the Bacharach-Sager-penned "Need a Little Faith" rising above the others. Despite a couple of unmemorable moments, Be Yourself doesn't disappoint by any means and is definitely worth having if only for the forgotten gems "Yo Mister" and "Love 89," which rank as some of Prince's better songs as well." ~ Jose F. Promis, All Music Guide )

By the way, the lyrics that were posted here were, I think, "fan-transcribed." (A google search brings up these lyrics transcribed by "Char Star".) I generally have a terrible ear for transcribing, but I put my "corrections" in brackets below. (I may be wrong, but hopefully the world won't end either way...)


Yo Mister how’s your daughter
You really ought to know
For every thing you taught her
Don’t matter when she’s all alone

My crazy friend named Cara {I always thought is was "Carol", but Cara sounds right}
After all of us told her, “No”
She givin’ up speed ball {she did another speedball}
Now she’s going nowhere stoned {now she's going nowhere slow}

Her papa caught her on the first time {...FOR the first time}
And put her out on the street
Cara told me to remind him
That she was only 17

Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter)
You really ought to know
Every thing you taught her
It don’t matter when she’s all alone

Cara got hooked up with the wrong kids
Then she started skipping school
Then Cara got high top make disappear {...got high to make...}
A world full of fools

In her eyes her father was the biggest fool of ‘em all
And she was speeding, that’s what she’d say {and when she was...}
Maybe, maybe, maybe she wouldn’t talk so stupid
If she knew whatever she needed is far too gone {if she (really?) knew how much she needed this (boy?) today}

Yo Mister how’s your daughter
You really ought to know
For every thing you taught her
Don’t matter when she’s all alone

She needs you right now Mister
‘Cause she ain’t got long to live
It’s so easy to say, “I love him”
But it’s hard to forget {but it's harder to forgive}

Her father cried when I told him
That Cara twice got knocked up
He said, “Just like her mama, uh-huh
She shows her body when she wants to show love
She tried that stuff with me and I beat her down”
There’s no way I could let her stay
Couldn’t let her stick around
‘Cause I tried so hard to raise her right
He said, “What made her turn out this way”
I don’t know
What made her turn out this way
I don’t know, I don’t know
And I said and I said and I said

Yo Mister how’s your daughter
You really ought to know (Every thing)
Every thing you taught her
Don’t matter when she’s all alone

She needs you right now Mister
She ain’t got long to live
It’s so easy to say, “I love him”
But it’s hard to forget {forgive}

Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)
Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)
Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)
Yo Mister how’s your daughter (How’s your daughter tonight)

That's what I'm talkin' about!

I added this joint to the favorite Prince duets thread. I think some folks slept on this cut.

Love 89 is a pure Batman outtake(It kinda reminds me of The Future & Partyman)