The song was released as a single from the band's third and final studio album, Special Beat Service (1982), finding moderate chart success in Britain.

Written by Beat guitarist Dave Wakeling before the band was founded, the song nearly went unreleased due to opposition from bassist David Steele.

The song has since become one of the band's most famous tracks and has been featured in various soundtracks and compilation albums.

"Save It for Later" was written by Beat guitarist Dave Wakeling as a teenager before the founding of the band.

"[4] The title of the song also served as a double entendre—Wakeling explained, "It started off as a dirty schoolboy joke.

Wakeling acknowledged the song's success, saying, "[The track] actually ended up earning about a third of our catalogue's publishing money, nowadays.

"[6] The track has appeared in Kingpin (1996), Since You've Been Gone (1998), Big Daddy (1999), Funny People (2009), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and Like Father (2018).

[6] A cover of the song by Seattle alternative rock band Harvey Danger appears in the film 200 Cigarettes (1999);[6] a version by Canadian punk rock band Flashlight Brown appears in Sky High (2005).