About The Song
“Save a Prayer” is a song by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 9 August 1982 as the third single from their second album Rio (1982). It became Duran Duran’s biggest hit (at the time) on the UK Singles Chart, reaching number two. As of October 2021 “Save a Prayer” is the sixth most streamed Duran Duran song in the UK.
“Save a Prayer” was not originally issued as a single in the United States, although the music video was very popular on MTV. An edited concert single version from “Arena” was finally released in the U.S. in January 1985 and reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song began with Andy Taylor and Nick Rhodes picking out chords together, and was then built around the sequencer track. Simon Le Bon wrote the lyrics to the song while the band was on tour. The lyrics are about a chance meeting between two people that turns into a one-night stand. Le Bon has described the lyrics as “realistic, and not romantic”. According to Le Bon, the chorus of the song was based on Gordon Lightfoot’s folk song “If You Could Read My Mind”.
The verses of the song are in D minor, while the chorus is in B minor. It opens with an arpeggiated delay-treated synthesizer riff (created on a Roland SH-2), which plays in the background throughout the song.
Video
Lyrics
You saw me standing by the wall,
Corner of a main street,
And the lights are flashing on your window sill.
All alone ain’t much fun,
So you’re looking for the thrill,
And you know just what it takes and where to go.
Don’t say a prayer for me now
Save it ’til the morning after
No, don’t say a prayer for me now
Save it ’til the morning after
Feel the breeze deep on the inside,
Look you down into your well,
If you can, you’ll see the world in all his fire,
Take a chance,
Like all dreamers can’t find another way,
You don’t have to dream it all, just live a day
Don’t say a prayer for me now
Save it ’til the morning after
No, don’t say a prayer for me now
Save it ’til the morning after
Save it ’til the morning after
Save it ’til the morning after
Pretty looking road
I try to hold the rising floods that fill my skin
Don’t ask me why I’ll keep my promise
Melt the ice
And you wanted to dance so I asked you to dance
But fear is in your soul
Some people call it a one night stand
But we can call it paradise
Don’t say a prayer for me now
Save it ’til the morning after
No, don’t say a prayer for me now
Save it ’til the morning after
Save it ’til the morning after
Save it ’til the morning after
Save it ’til the morning after
Save it ’til the morning after
Save a prayer ’til the morning after
Save a prayer ’til the morning after
Save a prayer ’til the morning after
Save a prayer ’til the morning after
Save a prayer ’til the morning after…