For the Sake of the Song: The Jayhawks “Save it for a Rainy Day”

The Jayhawks never quite garnered the americana genre attention that bands like Wilco and Son Volt did, probably because they never quite dug really deep into their soul and produced truly introspective albums as their contemporaries did. But I liked them (a lot) and I always thought that Gary Louris had a really sweet voice that connected with people in a way the best songwriters do. Perhaps because he was a little more ‘poppy’ than Jay Farrar or Jeff Tweedy, his contribution to the genre is quite often overlooked. His songs were extremely melodic and rich in harmony which to these ears made them very accessible. And one of their most accessible albums was “Rainy Day Music”, released in 2003 which kicked off with a quintet of stunningly catchy tracks – ‘Stumbling Through the Dark’, ‘Tailspin’, ‘All the Right Reasons, ‘Save It for a Rainy Day’ and ‘Eyes of Sarahjane‘.

Louris has stated in the past that he regards ‘Save it for a Rainy Day‘ (not to be confused with a similarly titled track written and recorded by the much more pop-oriented Stephen Bishop) as the best pop song he has ever written ‘it’s not blues, it’s not country’ he said, probably not able to describe it as americana as the genre had not at that time been invented.  “It’s about two or three people mixed up together” (one of whom could not be mentioned in an interview Louris gave because she was famous), and the Marina referred to in the lyrics was an on/off relationship that Louris had with the girl, who was a photographer. The on/offness of the relationship was because when he was available, she wasn’t and vice versa so it is “a little bit of a poke in the eye to her”, hence “don’t be so sad, Marina“.

The title lyrics encourage a more positive state of mind to overcome feelings of tiredness, “All the miles that you’ve been through / Looking like a train wreck” or sadness, “You never make your mind up / Like driving with your eyes shut”.

Louris noted that he loved playing this song live because of the audience participation when it came to the chorus. As the backing group sing “So sad“, Louris comes in with one of his sweetest choruses “Don’t look so sad, Marina, there’s another part to play”. A great song from a great album.