‘Missionary Man’ is a song by British pop duo Eurythmics from their fifth studio album, Revenge (1986). The song features Jimmy Zavala on harmonica and Joniece Jamison 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 Album 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.
In 1984, Annie Lennox married a Hare Krishna named Radha Raman, but the couple split up soon after. "'Missionary Man' had to do with my slight dabbling with Hare Krishna," Lennox told Q in 1991. "They're very similar to other fundamentalist religions, like Hasidic Jews; they want to go back to the old days, family values, us and them. And some of these values are very good. Hare Krishna is an extreme-looking cult and that attracted me. I like that they dared, that they didn't care what society thinks - I think Western society is really f--ked up - and just wanted to do what's right for them. But you have to beware of people giving you answers to everything. I found hypocrisy and double standards. But in a layman's sense, I'm still interested in Eastern philosophy and mysticism."
Dave Stewart wanted to create a song that would play well in an arena setting, as he was inspired by the concert films Under A Blood Red Sky by U2 and Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. British synthesizer bands weren't crossing over to big arena shows, and Stewart wanted to buck the trend. He wrote in The Dave Stewart Songbook: "'Missionary Man' opened the album and became a lynchpin song on the Revenge tour. I wanted to create a spiritual feeling at the opening of the song. I felt like an alchemist cooking up a weird brew of blues, rock and voodoo, with a strange mixture of guitars, synthesizers, backwards noises, and harmonica that spiraled toward the opening line, 'Well I was born an original sinner.' This was the perfect way to take our shows to another level."
‘Missionary Man’ earned Eurythmics a 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The video received heavy airplay on MTV and received five nominations at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards. Directed by Willy Smax, the music video for ‘Missionary Man’ features 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 1987 MTV Video Music Awards.
Label – RCA
Songwriters – Annie Lennox, David A. Stewart
Producer – David A. Stewart
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Well, I was born an original sinner
I was born from original sin
And if I had a dollar bill for all the things I've done
There'd be a mountain of money piled up to my chin, hey!
[Verse 2]
My mother told me good, my mother told me strong
She said, be true to yourself and you can't go wrong
But there's just one thing that you must understand
You can fool with your brother
[Chorus]
But don't mess with a missionary man
Don't mess with a missionary man
Don't mess with a missionary man
Don't mess with a missionary man
[Vrese 3]
Oh, the missionary man, he's got God on his side
He's got the saints and apostles backing up from behind
Black eyed looks from those Bible books
He's a man with a mission, got a serious mind
There was a woman in the jungle and a monkey on a tree
The missionary man, he was following me
He said, "Stop what you're doing? Get down upon your knees!"
"I've a message for you that you better believe"
[Verse 4]
Oh, yeah! Hey! Hey! Oh!
Well I was born an original sinner
I was born from original sin
And if I had a dollar bill for all the things I've done
There'd be a mountain of money
[Chorus]
Don't mess with a missionary man
Missionary man
Missionary man
Missionary man
Don't mess with a missionary man
Missionary man