"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 #4 on the UK Singles Chart, the highest any R.E.M. song charted in the UK until "The Great Beyond" in 2000, the song flopped in the United States, reaching only #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.
Patti Smith sings guest backing vocals on this song. The song's title refers to the EBow, an electromagnetic field-generating device that creates a distorted sound when used with the electric guitar and to a "letter never sent" by Michael Stipe. It is believed that the letter in question was written to actor River Phoenix expressing Stipe's concern for his friend's spiraling substance abuse with the letter never being sent due to Phoenix's death; the words 'For River' are visible in the bottom of the rear view mirror that appears on the song's single sleeve. Guitarist Peter Buck can be seen using an EBow in the video for the song at approximately 1:27 to 1:30.
"E-Bow the Letter" was ranked number 21 on NME magazine's list of the "Singles of the Year". In 2003, song was placed on R.E.M.'s compilation In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003.
