After a short period of playing in local bars and clubs, The Prayer Boat had attracted a cult following in Dublin. Their two albums, Oceanic Feeling and Polichinelle received high praise and commendation from music journals but unfortunately sales were meagre.
Despite not having performed for several years, The Prayer Boat still have a website which is visited by afficionados of the band. The band's achingly beautiful music has found devotees around the world and frontman Emmett Tinley regularly receives emails from passionate lovers of his voice and The Prayer Boat's unique music. Emmett is a truly gifted singer and songwriter, and Melody Maker summed this up when they said of him, 'the man can make a cat's cradle of your heart strings.'
As Emmett has now embarked upon a solo career, releasing his first album, Attic Faith in 2005, and only occasionally sees the other members of The Prayer Boat (with the exception of his brother Patrick) it remains doubtful whether the band will play together in the near future. However, this has never been ruled out, and fans of The Prayer Boat continue to remain steadfast in their loyalty to this highly talented Irish band.
Band members are:-
Emmett Tinley (vocals, guitar, piano, hammond organ)
Patrick Tinley (guitar, charango)
Tony Byrne (bass guitar)
Tim Houlihan (drums)
Saved
The Prayer Boat Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We can never be apart
Baby we're already saved
We can never be apart
There's no sadder song than this one
You wake up alone in my arms
All we want to do is breathe easily
Baby we're already saved
We can never be apart
Baby we're already saved
We can never be apart
Do I turn around and now like a child
Go looking for another lesson to be learned
How can I believe in love without a love?
It's hard to learn this way, I'd rather play God
Baby we're already saved
We can never be apart
So here's my story, everything is for you
Here's my pain
There's no glory in winning
Here's my new beginning..............la la la
We lie as lovers on a bed of lies
It's the weight of my life to be here with you now
But I never left before, no no
For now we have to breathe to bring this love alive
We'll let each other go, let it go..........let it go
Baby we're already saved
We can never be apart
Baby we're already saved
We can never be apart
ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh...............................
The song "Saved" by The Prayer Boat is a touching love ballad that portrays the idea of two souls deeply connected and destined to be together. The singer sings to their partner, assuring them that they are already saved, and no matter what happens, they will always be together. The lyrics describe the beauty of true love, like how waking up alone in someone's arms can be the saddest thing in the world, but still, it is worth everything. The song is a juxtaposition of sadness and longing versus the strong bond of two souls in love.
The line “Do I turn around and now like a child, go looking for another lesson to be learned" speaks to the fear of losing one's partner and then trying to fill the void by finding new experiences to learn from – but ultimately nothing compares to the love they shared together. The song's chorus, "Baby we're already saved, we can never be apart," is repeated throughout the song, and it's a reminder of how love as a powerful force that can conquer all obstacles.
Overall, "Saved" by The Prayer Boat is a heartfelt song that highlights the depth of true love, its challenges, and its triumphs.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby we're already saved
We don't need to be saved because we will always be together
We can never be apart
Our love is so strong that nothing can pull us apart
There's no sadder song than this one
The sadness we feel is incomparable to any other feeling
You wake up alone in my arms
Even when we are together, we may still feel alone
All we want to do is breathe easily
Our love should feel natural and effortless
Wild eyes were all our charms
Our passion and intensity in love is what draws us to each other
Do I turn around and now like a child
Should I give up on love and search for something new?
Go looking for another lesson to be learned
Should I continue to seek out new experiences and lessons in love?
How can I believe in love without a love?
It's difficult to believe in love without actually experiencing it
It's hard to learn this way, I'd rather play God
Learning about love through pain and heartbreak feels impossible, I'd prefer to control the outcome
So here's my story, everything is for you
My life and experiences revolve around you
Here's my pain
I am willing to share my suffering with you
There's no glory in winning
Victory means nothing without love
Here's my new beginning..............la la la
I am ready to start fresh with you
We lie as lovers on a bed of lies
Our relationship may not be perfect, but our love is still real
It's the weight of my life to be here with you now
Being with you is the most important thing in my life
But I never left before, no no
I have never wanted to leave this relationship
For now we have to breathe to bring this love alive
We need to take a break and let our love breathe to keep it alive
We'll let each other go, let it go..........let it go
We need to temporarily let go of each other to strengthen our love in the long run
ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh...............................
Instrumental outro
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: EMMETT TINLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Embo Jitsu
One of the most beautiful and cinematic songs to come out of Ireland in 30 years. It's genius, transcendent and perfect.
Frederico Keyser
Emmett's lyrics express a world in a word...
GHS-79
Whenever I heard this, I initially thought it was Arid, from Belgium. It's a wonderful track and one of the gems of that Irish songwriting musical era of late '90s.
Leandro
I'm from Argentina. I was 17 in 1999 when I bought that number of this spanish magazine named Rock Sound wich included a CD with songs from the bands featured on it. That was the way of listening some new stuff from another point of the globe..and there it was, Polichinelle by The Prayer Boat.. I grew up listening alternative rock pop and brit pop, the 90s were something like the saddest it sounds the more you love it. So it was love at first heard. There were no chances to get the album on this side of the world, it wasn't until 2006 that I was able to get it on the net.. And it is one of the most beautiful albums ever.
Allisnotwhatitseems
Looks like a very young Christy Dignam and sounds like Starsailor.
A real honest 90s vibe off it. I really like this.
Johanna Doyle AKA JoAnn
❤❤❤❤❤
J McEvoy
Great album but this was a very poor choice for a single.
Munchy McMouthington
Interesting, I always thought it was quite a nice single. Which song would you have chosen? I know they had released Dark Green as a single. I think "was this love" is a real hidden gem.
J McEvoy
@Munchy McMouthington Perhaps it all comes down to personal taste but I found Saved to be the weakest song on the album. At the time I thought if they couldn't score with Dark Green it wasn't going to happen for them at all. Which sadly proved to be the case. You are right about Was this Love - it's the song I keep going back to.
Munchy McMouthington
@J McEvoy I trust your judgement more than mine haha! I seldom understand why songs are released as singles! See Tame Impala's "I'm A Man" off of the Currents album. The whole album is gold except for that song in my opinion, but my ex was absolutely obssessed with it! go fig!