R.E.M. released “I’ll Take the Rain” as a UK single on November 19, 2001, through Warner Bros. The third and final single from Reveal arrived with a visual identity built around Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s work: a crowned dog that appeared on the sleeve and became a character in the animated music video.
The video follows the dog and a living wooden cart as they explore an island. Nara’s involvement connected the release to an artist whose relationship with music extended well beyond this commission. He had designed sleeves for punk and new wave bands, while song titles and lyrics also found their way into his drawings. R.E.M.’s animation carried his imagery from the CD cover into a moving story, a collaboration discussed in Asia Society’s exhibition material on Nara.
Michael Stipe told Süddeutsche Zeitung the song’s narrator chooses to leave a disappointing relationship, a decision requiring strength.
The recording belonged to R.E.M.’s twelfth studio album, made by the core trio of Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills following drummer Bill Berry’s departure in 1997. The band co-produced Reveal with Pat McCarthy. “I’ll Take the Rain” was recorded at the Warehouse in Vancouver and mixed at the Hit Factory in Miami. On the album, its nearly six-minute running time occupied the penultimate slot, immediately before “Beachball.” The single brought that late-album track into focus after “Imitation of Life” and “All the Way to Reno (You’re Gonna Be a Star).”
The accompanying tracks gave listeners more to explore within the same record. Across the two British CD singles, R.E.M. included live versions of “I’ve Been High” and “She Just Wants to Be,” recorded in Sydney and New York respectively. An enhanced edition also included video of the Sydney performance. “32 Chord Song” offered another route into the sessions: it was an alternate version of Reveal’s “Summer Turns to High.” Together, those extras let album owners hear familiar material at a different stage of development or in performance.
“I’ll Take the Rain” reached No. 44 on the UK singles chart and spent two weeks in the Top 100. Its own acoustic performance from that period took considerably longer to reach an official release. R.E.M. played the song during their 2001 MTV Unplugged session, but it was among the performances omitted from the television broadcast. In 2014, it appeared on Unplugged: The Complete 1991 and 2001 Sessions, alongside the broadcast sets and other previously unaired performances.
