“Save It for a Rainy Day” (Stephen Bishop)

Today’s classic song of the day is another inoffensive soft rock tune from the mid-70s. “Save It for a Rainy Day” was released by Stephen Bishop in December of 1976 and early the next year it rose to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #21 on the Cash Box Top 100. It did considerably better on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, peaking at #6.

“Save It for a Rainy Day” was written and produced by Stephen Bishop. The single is unique for the heavy hitters playing on the track; in addition to studio cats like drummer Russ Kunkel, the single featured Eric Clapton playing a sweet guitar solo and Chaka Khan singing backup vocals. Not bad for a soft rock kind of thing.

Many consider “Save It for a Rainy Day” as a quintessential Yacht Rock tune, and it’s hard to argue with that; it has all the telltale components (save for Michael McDonald vocals). I just think it’s the typical type of soft rock you heard a lot on the radio back then, relatively harmless stuff that was easy to listen to.

I do like Mr. Bishop’s lyrics on this one. It’s about a guy who’s crazy for a girl who’s no good for him, and he knows that. Based on the description of the girl in the first verse, I’d probably fall for her, too:

Well she’s kinda pretty, drives a big car too
And when I hold her in my arms, I never know what to do
She’s got everything she needs, what does she need me for
Just a crazy fool comin’ back for more

And I know she’s no good
Can’t blame her but I know I should
Everybody says a watch out boy
She’ll break your heart like it was a toy

You better save it for a rainy day
You better save it for a rainy day

Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, Stephen Bishop performing “Save It for a Rainy Day” and “On and On” on The Merv Griffin Show in 1977. You even get to see Merv interviewing Stephen, which is kind of cool.