E-Bow the Letter

"E-Bow the Letter" is the first single from R.E.M.'s tenth studio album "New Adventures in Hi-Fi". It was released in August 1996 just weeks before the album's release. During the same month, R.E.M. signed its then record-breaking five-album contract with Warner Bros. Records. Although it peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, the highest any R.E.M. song charted in the United Kingdom until "The Great Beyond" in 2000, the song fared less well in the United States, reaching only number 49 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It became R.E.M.'s lowest charting lead single since "Fall on Me" released from "Lifes Rich Pageant" in 1986, when the band was on a smaller record label, I.R.S. Records.
The song features American singer-songwriter and "Godmother of Punk" Patti Smith performing backing vocals. Smith was cited as a major influence by band members Michael Stipe and Peter Buck, and she also provided backing vocals for "Blue", the closing track on the band's final studio album "Collapse into Now" in 2011.
History.
The song is about Stipe's friend, the actor and musician River Phoenix. The title refers to the EBow, an electromagnetic field-generating device that induces sustained vibration in an electric guitar string (creating a violin-like effect), and to a "letter never sent" by Michael Stipe. R.E.M. has also played the song live with artists including Thom Yorke singing Patti Smith's vocal part.
Reception.
"E-Bow the Letter" was ranked number 21 on "NME" magazine's list of the "Singles of the Year". In 2003, the song was placed on R.E.M.'s compilation "". Pitchfork Media founder and owner Ryan Schreiber described it on the website as "possibly one of the greatest songs ever written."
Track listing.
All songs were written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, except where noted.
7-inch, cassette, and CD single
12-inch and CD maxi-single
Personnel.
R.E.M.
Additional personnel