"Kyrie" was a #1 hit song by the 1980s pop/rock band Mr. Mister

Mr. Mister

Mr. Mister is an American pop rock band most popular in the 1980s. The band's name came from an inside joke about a Weather Report album called Mr. Gone where they referred to each other as "Mister This" or "Mister That", and eventually selected "Mr. Mister." Mr. Mister may be considered as...

, from their 1985 album Welcome to the Real World. Released in late 1985, it hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 charts in March 1986, where it was #1 for two weeks. It also hit the top spot on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart for one week, and was the band's only #1 single on this chart. In the UK the song peaked at #11 in April 1986.

Background and writing

The words to "Kyrie" were written by lyricist John Lang who co-wrote the songs on all of Mr. Mister's albums. The music was composed by Richard Page

Richard Page (musician)

Richard Page , is an American musician who is the lead singer and bassist of 1980's US band Mr. Mister and is now a songwriter and solo artist.-Early life:...

 and Steve George

Steve George (keyboardist)

Steve George is an American keyboard player, who is perhaps best known as the keyboardist for the 1980s band, Mr. Mister. He co-wrote many of the Mr. Mister songs, together with his childhood friend, Mr...

 while on tour with Adam Ant

Adam Ant

Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...

.

"Kýrie, eléison, down the road that I must travel

Kýrie, eléison, through the darkness of the night"

Kýrie, eléison

Kyrie

Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....

 means "Lord, have mercy" in Biblical Greek, and is a part of many liturgical rites in Eastern and Western Christianity. Kýrie, eléison; Christé, eléison; Kýrie, eléison is a prayer that asks "Lord, have mercy; Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

, have mercy; Lord, have mercy". According to Page the entire song is, essentially, a prayer.

There is a myth that singer Richard Page wrote this song while lying in a hospital bed following an unprovoked attack. John Lang has stated that he was the one who was attacked, three years before "Kyrie" was written, and that the incident has nothing to do with the song.

The video for this song was directed by Nick Morris

Nick Morris

Nick Morris is a film maker who began his career in the 1980s with music videos for "The Final Countdown" by Europe, "Kyrie" by Mr. Mister and "Every Time You Go Away" by Paul Young...

, and features the band in performance mixed with footage taken at the tail end of their Fall 1985 tour with Tina Turner

Tina Turner

Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

.

Track listing

7" single

1. "Kyrie" (single edit) - 4:10
2. "Run to Her" - 3:36

12" single

1. "Kyrie" (album length) - 4:24
2. "Run to Her" - 3:36
3. "Hunters of the Night" - 5:07

The single edit of the song ends with the a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 phrase "Kýrie, eléison, down the road that I must travel", while the album version simply fades out.

Charts

Chart (1986)	Peak position
Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...	5
Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	7
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...	6
Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...	1
New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...	30
Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	6
Swiss Singles Chart	3
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	11
Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary	11
US Billboard Top Rock Tracks	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1986)	Position
Canadian RPM 100 RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	26
Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	66
US Billboard Hot 100	9

Cover versions

In 1993, Acapella Vocal Band, a traditional Southern gospel group, included a version of the song on their album U And Me And God Make 5 (Word). The cover turned into a hit on the Contemporary Christian Music

Contemporary Christian music

Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...

 charts of 1994, and the group later recorded a Spanish version of the song as well.

In 2002, Mark Schultz

Mark Schultz (musician)

Mark Schultz is a Contemporary Christian music singer/songwriter. He grew up in Colby, Kansas and graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in marketing. At Kansas State, Mark was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he served eight years as a youth group...

 made a cover of the song on his Song Cinema

Song Cinema

Song Cinema is the second album released by Contemporary Christian artist Mark Schultz. It was released on October 17, 2001.-Track listing:# When the Mountains Fall# Back in His Arms Again# Think of Me# I Have Been There# Kyrie Eleison# Holy One...

CD.