"So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" was the second single to be released from R.E.M.’s 1984 sophomore studio album, Reckoning.
It was in 1983 was while the band was on tour,- that the Athens, Georgia based band got word of torrential storms back home in the South Central region of Georgia. They tried to call their families and friends to make sure they were OK, but the phones were out because of the torrential rain. The band wrote "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" in response.
In 1983 on their first US network television appearance, R.E.M. performed a rough version of the song on Late Night with David Letterman before it even had a title.
For the music video, Michael Stipe refused to lip-sync to the song. Guitarist Peter Buck said, "We played a recording of the track, and the rest of us faked it, but Michael insisted on singing a new vocal to make it more real for him."
