"Missionary Man" is a song by British

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

duo

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British New wave music, new wave duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band t ...

from their fifth studio album, ''

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'' (1986). The song features

Jimmy Zavala Jimmy 'Z' Zavala (born February 7, 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 and recorded on four multiple platinum albums and t ...

on harmonica and

Joniece Jamison Joniece Jamison (born December 11, 1955, 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 1 ...

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. 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''

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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

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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

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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 best ...

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

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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" features stop-animation techniques similar to those used in

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

's "

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" video from earlier in 1986. The video received heavy play from

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 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

Cover versions

* The song was recorded by Swedish rock band

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on their 2016 EP ''

Popestar ''Popestar'' is the second EP by the Swedish rock band Ghost. It consists mainly of covers and was produced by Tom Dalgety. The EP was released on 16 September 2016, by Loma Vista Recordings. The band began the Popestar Tour of North America f ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1986 songs 1986 singles Eurythmics songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Annie Lennox Songs written by Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Song recordings produced by Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal Music videos directed by Willy Smax