Driver 8

Cash Box said it is "a modulating country-folk rocker which features a thoughtful chorus hook and a soaring bridge." In 2024, in an interview with Mike Mills, Rick Beato described the song as "mournful". Mills agreed: "Melancholic, yeah. It's about trains, and trains are already wistful and mournful and melancholic. E minor is a great sad key." ==Cover versions==

• Driver 8 was covered by Hootie and the Blowfish in 2000 on their covers-only album Scattered, Smothered and Covered after the band performed a live version of the song with R.E.M. on the UK's TFI Friday in October 1998. • Dennis "Cannonball" Caplinger's bluegrass instrumental cover appears on 2001's ''Pickin' on R.E.M.: The Bluegrass Tribute''. • Death Cab for Cutie played the song on their 2006 UK tour for the album Plans, although they have not released an official recording of it. • Old 97's covered it on their covers-only EP Mimeograph released on July 6, 2010. • Canadian rock band The Watchmen covered the song at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on September 24, 2011, shortly after news of R.E.M.'s breakup was made public. Their version was released on the download-only live album Radar Redux. • Indie rock band The Walkmen covered the song in August 2010 for the first season of The A.V. Clubs A.V. Undercover web series. • Santa Cruz Bicycles produced a mountain bike model called Driver 8. It was first released in 2009. • Love Canon covered the song on their 2018 album Cover Story. • Jason Isbell released a cover to his YouTube channel in September 2021, and is included in the album Georgia Blue. • Toad the Wet Sprocket released a cover to streaming and on their YouTube channel in 2024. ==Track listing==

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe unless otherwise indicated. 7": IRS / IRS-52678 (US) • "Driver 8" – 3:24 • "Crazy" (Pylon) – 3:05 ==Charts==