php insert problem

<snip>

 $database = pg_connect ("host=localhost dbname=rbak user=nobody") or die("database connection failed");
  $result = pg_exec ($database, "INSERT into employees (emp_name, emp_email) VALUES ('$emp_name','$emp_email')";

  if (!$result) {
        echo "query died\n";
        exit;
  }

</snip>

the above code produces a parse error.  "parse error, unexpected ';' in blah.php on line X"

line X is the $result = pg_exec ($database, "INSERT into employees (emp_name, emp_email) VALUES
('$emp_name','$emp_email')";line.  I've started at this long enough, and it's time for other eyes to look.  any ideas?
similarSELECT queries work just fine. 

dan