"Missionary Man" is a song by British pop duo Eurythmics from their fifth studio album, '' Revenge'' (1986). The song features

Jimmy Zavala Jimmy 'Z' Zavala (born July 12, 1955) is an American musician. He is notable for playing harmonica on the Eurythmics song " Missionary Man" and performing with the band live. He also played live as part of Rod Stewart's band and appears on "Weir ...

on harmonica and

Joniece Jamison Joniece Jamison (born December 11, 1956 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States) is an American singer. In France, she achieved notability recording two successful duets with French artist François Feldman: " Joue pas" in 1989 and " J'ai peur" in ...

on backing vocals. In the band's native United Kingdom, it was the fourth single to be taken from the album and peaked at number 31 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was more successful in the United States, where it was the first single to be taken from the album and peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (their last main US top-20 entry to date). It also made the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance/Club Play chart, and it received extensive airplay on American rock radio, reaching number one on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, Eurythmics' only song to top this chart. The single also peaked at number nine in Australia, where it was released as the album's second single. "Missionary Man" earned Eurythmics a 1986

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011. The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, all solo or duo/group ...

. The video received heavy airplay on MTV and received five nominations at the

1987 MTV Video Music Awards The 1987 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 11, 1987, from the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Hosted by MTV VJs Downtown Julie Brown, Carolyne Heldman, Kevin Seal, Michael Tomioka, and Dweezil Zappa, the show honored the be ...

Background

Upon the single's July 1986 US release, the song was described as being inspired in part by Lennox's 1984–1985 marriage to devout

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna may refer to: * International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a group commonly known as "Hare Krishnas" or the "Hare Krishna movement" * Hare Krishna (mantra) The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the (" ...

Radha Raman. When discussing the song's inspiration and meaning, Lennox stated "Obviously, there is a personal meaning in issionary Manfor me, because of my past history. But I also think that there are a great deal of people in the media, in the form of politicians or religious speakers or philosophical people, people who are generally trying to have some power over other people, who I just don't trust."

Music video

Directed by Willy Smax, the music video for Missionary Man featured stop-animation techniques similar to those used in Peter Gabriel's " Sledgehammer" video from earlier in 1986. The video received heavy play from MTV and received five nominations at the

Track listings

* UK 7-inch single :A. "Missionary Man" (7-inch version) – 3:50 :B. "The Last Time" (live at

The Roxy Roxy, Roxey, and Roxie may refer to: People * Roxy (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name Places in the United States * Roxie, Mississippi, a town * Roxie, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Music * Roxy ...

in Los Angeles) * UK 12-inch single :A. "Missionary Man" (extended version) – 6:55 :B. "The Last Time" (live at The Roxy in Los Angeles) * US 7-inch single :A. "Missionary Man" (7-inch version) – 3:50 :B. "Take Your Pain Away" (LP version) – 4:37 * US 12-inch single :A. "Missionary Man" (extended version) – 6:55 :B. "Take Your Pain Away" (LP version) – 4:37

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles 1986 songs Eurythmics songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Annie Lennox Songs written by David A. Stewart