Release date: 19/11/2001 | Length: 5:55 | Release: Reveal | SuE: #127 | UK: #44

I used to think
As birds take wing

I think of I’ll Take the Rain as the last time that R.E.M. consciously tried to write a beautiful song. It’s written in the same vein as Everybody Hurts and Strange Currencies, built around a big chorus that’s designed to move mountains. It’s a good job that this refrain is incredibly affective, as the rest of the song is indicative of a tired band.

Were this song on Automatic for the People, it’d be rightly lauded as a classic. The narrator finds themselves in the doldrums, looking around at nature to inspire their next decision. “I used to think, As birds take wing, They sing through life so why can’t we” bemoans Michael Stipe, “If this is what you’re offering, I’ll take the rain”. Being deserted is a damn sight more preferable than what they currently have. By the end of the almost six-minute long song, the sprinkling of piano and little guitar licks render this a stone-cold classic.

But it’s not though is it? The song failed to chart in the US, and became the first song since 1993’s Find the River to not crack the top 40 in the UK. I’ll Take the Rain has left no legacy in the R.E.M. canon. It was not included on any subsequent compilation albums, and the lack of reverence for Reveal means that it’s almost been lost.

The issues with I’ll Take the Rain are symptomatic of what plagued its album, as everything feels underworked. Stipe seems genuinely tired as he sings this song, croaking his way through certain words without any real meaning. Peter Buck’s guitar solo is a forgettable detour, adding an unnecessary minute to proceedings, and the music of the verses is wholly flat. It feels harsh to say that the band were dialling it in at this point, as I do think that the songs themselves are very, very good. But it’s this weariness that holds back the song, a problem that culminated on 2004’s nadir Around the Sun. The song is a classic. The execution is not.