So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)

All four members wrote it. The sleeve styles the title "So CENTRAL RAiN" on the cover and "Southern Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" inside. Reckoning came out on I.R.S., April 9, 1984 in the UK and April 17 in the US, recorded between December 8, 1983 and January 16, 1984 at Reflection Sound in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Mitch Easter and Don Dixon producing. The length is 3:11 in the song's infobox, 3:16 on the single and 3:15 on the album. Bill Berry played drums, Peter Buck guitar, Mike Mills bass, backing vocals and piano, and Michael Stipe sang lead.

Mix's Classic Tracks column, by Barbara Schultz in February 2009, says it was tracked live to a JH-24 at 30 ips in a large curved-wall room with gobos, through an MCI JH600 console. The 7-inch paired it with "Walter's Theme" and a cover of Roger Miller's "King of the Road"; the 12-inch added more. It reached 85 on the Hot 100 and 43 on Mainstream Rock in 1984. An untitled early version was played on Late Night with David Letterman on October 6, 1983, the band's first US network television appearance. We found no statement from the band on the lyric.