User:Qwoa/St. Teresa (song)

"St. Teresa" is a song by American singer-songwriter Joan Osborne. Released in 1996 as the second single from her debut album Relish, it was written by Osborne as well as its producer Rick Chertoff and The Hooters members Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman. It failed to chart in the US - a stark difference from Osborne's previous single "One of Us," which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 - but had some minor international chart success.

Background and release
Written about a sex worker she witnessed openly engaging in drug dealing in their shared Manhattan neighbourhood, Osborne has said that she penned the lyrics to "St. Teresa" while under hypnosis in a desperate attempt to overcome writer's block. Alongside the simple fact that she found the name St. Teresa "singable," the singer further explained the song's connection to its namesake Saint Teresa of Jesus in an interview with The Irish Times: "'Part of the appeal of the Catholic church is the mystery, even in relation to sexuality. And someone like St Teresa experienced a lot of these mysteries through her body, so this idea has some kind of precedent in the history of religion. And I've no problem linking the themes of sexuality and spirituality in that way. Again, it's trying to reclaim a woman's sexuality, in particular, from the history of oppression in the Church.'"

"St. Teresa" received airplay on triple-A and modern rock stations upon its initial release as a promotional single in 1995. It was also accompanied by a music video. Later given a proper commercial release in 1996 following the global success of "One of Us," it was once again promoted with another music video, directed by Osborne herself. In it, she plays a hotel maid discovering bizarre and supernatural occurrences while cleaning, including a levitating woman and goldfish living in a toilet and bathtub. The re-release led to the song reaching the top 50 of the Australian, British, New Zealand, and Swedish singles charts.