The Beat: Save It for Later

Dave Wakeling wrote the song in the late 1970s, before The Beat was formed. The unusual tuning Wakeling used was copied (slightly inaccurately) from singer-songwriter-guitarist John Martyn, who regularly used an "Open D" tuning (DADGAD) but Wakeling tuned his guitar to DADAAD.

He presented the song to the band during early rehearsals, but it was vetoed by bassist David Steele as being "too rock, too old wave". When the band found themselves short of tracks to complete their third album "Special Beat Service" (1982) their record label began pressuring the group to include the song, but Steele and guitarist Andy Cox still both opposed recording it. Wakeling then suggested he would record it and release it under his own name. Steele continued to refuse to play on the backing track, so Wakeling and drummer Everett Morton began recording it themselves until Steele and Cox finally relented. Although it was not a major chart success at the time, reaching only #47 in the UK and #58 in the USA, it went on to become one the group's best-known and most successful recordings, and Wakeling has commented that it now accounts for about one-third of the group's total royalty income from their combined song catalogue.

The song has been widely covered by acts including Counting Crows and Pearl Jam, and The Who's Pete Townshend - who cites it as one of his favourite songs of all time - has covered it on many occasions. Townshend famously telephoned Wakeling one morning to ask him about the tuning because he and collaborator David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd) were trying to record a cover version but Townshend had been unable to deduce what tuning Wakeling had used.

Featured in VH1 Presents the 80's: Hour 3: New Wave/Alternative Rock (2001)