Duran Duran – Save a Prayer: История песни и кавер-версии

1982 single by Duran Duran

"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.

Cash Box said that the live version "attests to the faithful sound of Duran Duran’s show while betraying a certain sedimentary element of the arrangement, the harmonies are there as are the lush backing synthesizers, yet a muddy mix makes the original studio cut favorable." AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco described the new wave ballad in a retrospective review, as being "a lilting epic". He wrote: "The music maintains the stormily romantic quality of the lyric by combining meditative verses with an aching chorus that swells and ebbs in a way that perfectly captures the song's heartbreak."

The song has also appeared in the British TV series Sex Education (season 3, episode 2).

A cover version of the song appears on Eagles of Death Metal's 2015 album, Zipper Down. Duran Duran and Eagles of Death Metal played the song together on TFI Friday. Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, a Facebook campaign was launched to get the cover of "Save a Prayer" to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Duran Duran have stated that they will donate all their royalties from the cover to charity. Eagles of Death Metal's cover ultimately peaked at number 53 for the chart dated the week after the attack.

In 2014, singer songwriter David Mead released a cover version of the song on the multi artist compilation album Here Comes the Reign Again: The Second British Invasion. In December 2019, Canadian electronic duo Bob Moses released a cover version of the song on their Unplugged EP. In 2009, British singer songwriter Kate Walsh released a cover version of the song on her album Peppermint Radio.

In 1995, English musical duo Shut Up and Dance prominently sampled "Save a Prayer" on their song "Save It 'til the Mourning After". It was released as a single and reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1995, becoming the duo's second top 40 hit in the UK. It also reached number 41 on the Dutch Single Top 100, becoming their only song to chart in the Netherlands. The opening melody of "Save a Prayer" forms the basis of Viper's 1997 single "Titty Twister". "Save a Prayer" is sampled throughout on Cosmic Belt's 2006 single "Do It". Will. i. am of the Black Eyed Peas sampled the song on the track "One More Chance", on his 2007 solo album Songs About Girls. Arctic Monkeys reference the song's chorus on the track "Teddy Picker", from their 2007 album Favourite Worst Nightmare.