Save It For A Rainy Day

This lite-rock favorite finds Stephen Bishop singing from the perspective of a guy who is crazy for a girl who is no good for him. Everybody tells him to move on - save his love for a rainy day - but he just can't. It was not inspired by personal experience - Bishop came up with the title and did his best to craft a hit. "I didn't know a girl who drove a big car," he told Songfacts. "You just add stuff, make it colorful."

This song features a guitar solo by a rock god and backing vocals by a sensational soul singer: Eric Clapton plays the solo and Chaka Khan comes in near the end of the song. How did this happen? Bishop told us the story: "Chaka was going out with and eventually married my friend Richard Holland... I hung out with them back then. She sang with me one night at the Troubadour and we used to see each other all the time. He asked her for me and she sang on three songs on my first album Careless. She sounded great and I told her to let wail on 'Save it' which she did quite well, methinks. Eric and Pattie came by the studio where I was recording with Henry Lewy - it was the old A&M studio in studio C where Joni Mitchell always recorded. It was through my manager at the time, Bob Ellis, who was married to Diana Ross. He told Eric I was this funny guy and he got him to come out. He brought his guitar and we found a little amp and he played the solo on 'Save It.' We stayed friends through the years."

Bishop credits his bass player on this track, Jeffrey Staton, with helping turn the song into a hit.