Revelator

It was one of the first songs written for the album, before Almo Sounds was sold, in the small office the pair called the Cubby at their home in Sylvan Park, Nashville. They were already playing it on stage in October 1999. At RCA Studio B the take on the record began as a test of the microphones; Rawlings said they caught the feeling of a first take because they had not played it for months.

The word came from Son House's John the Revelator. Welch has said the meaning of the album's words lies in how they sound. Pitchfork noted that on the chorus Rawlings's voice trails hers so closely it makes an eerie echo, and NPR heard a mix of apocalyptic prophecy and personal history, and a real step up for the duo. Mark Seliger filmed it in black and white at Studio B for The Revelator Collection.

Live

It has become one of their most played songs, logged more than 200 times across their two setlist.fm entries, and it closed their NPR Tiny Desk set in 2025. The Black Eyed Dogs, with Ethan Johns, recorded it live at Real World Studios for a 2019 Record Store Day release. The upload in the hypersongs web is the album version.