[3] "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 released in the U.S. in January 1985 and reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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.

"[10] The video was filmed by director Russell Mulcahy among the jungles, beaches, and temples of Sri Lanka in April 1982.

[11] Scenes were filmed atop the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya, among the ruins of a Buddhist temple at Polonnaruwa and the island's southern coastline, with Simon Le Bon appearing in Speedos.

[12] They had almost no time after that was done to change clothes before catching their flight, and Rhodes wore the same leather jacket and trousers he had been wearing against the London chill.

The driver who met them in a flatbed lorry informed them it would be several hours' driving time to Kandy in the centre of the country, where the band were lodged.

He accidentally swallowed some, and had to be hospitalised during the band's subsequent Australian tour due to a tropical virus he contracted at that time.

On the live version Le Bon dedicates the song to Marvin Gaye, who had been fatally shot the day before the concert was recorded in April 1984.

[33][34] 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.

[37] 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.

[45] In December 2019, Canadian electronic duo Bob Moses released a cover version of the song on their Unplugged EP.