In Until the End of the World, Wim Wenders’ film that has just returned to theaters in Italy, there’s a story within the story - and it’s the story of a lost R.E.M. gem.
The movie features one of the greatest film soundtracks ever made, with original songs by Lou Reed, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, and U2 (who provided the title track, later included on Achtung Baby). The story within the story is that of “Fretless,” an unreleased song recorded during the Out of Time sessions, which the band gave to the German director. But at some point, they regretted not putting it on the album that turned them into global stars.To put the soundtrack together, Wenders reached out to some of his favorite artists and friends and asked them to write new, unreleased songs while imagining themselves in 1999 - ten years into the future. U2 took part, revisiting and finishing “Until the End of the World,” a demo they were working on for Achtung Baby, from which Wenders borrowed the film’s title. Nick Cave - who had already worked with Wenders on Wings of Desire - also contributed, as did Depeche Mode. And R.E.M., of course, who offered up their “Fretless.”
In the film, the song plays on the jukebox of a San Francisco bar where the two main characters, Sam (William Hurt) and Claire (Solveig Dommartin), meet again after wandering around the world.
“He’s got his work and she come easy/They each come around when the other is gone/Me, I think I got stuck somewhere in between”, sings Michael Stipe on a wonderful guitar and piano melody.I asked the band to look back on that song, and Michael Stipe sent this message:
"Until the end of the world is" halfway between a road movie and a futuristic vision of the power of images: a device is capable of visualizing and recording dreams, but it creates addiction. Claire and Sam chase each other while a satellite threatens a nuclear catastrophe, and Eugene (Sam Neill), a writer and Claire’s ex, narrates the story.
“Fretless” is not original in the sense that it wasn’t written for the film, but it is nevertheless perfectly suited to portray the movie’s central characters. When Until the End of the World was released, the band had just put out Out of Time and was at the peak of its mainstream success. “Fretless” had been recorded during those sessions along with “It’s a Free World Baby,” which was later used on the Friends soundtrack.
It’s a melancholic song - one that would likely have changed the tone of the album, which already included an introspective track like “Country Feedback,” destined to become one of the band’s classics. Still, “Fretless,” in addition to being used by Wenders, was performed several times in the TV concerts of that period, including MTV Unplugged (and even in the one the band recorded in Milan for Videomusic at the Shocking Club).
The song didn’t appear on a band release until 2004, when it was included in the compilation In Time. And in the liner notes, Peter Buck regretted not having included it on Out of Time: "I have no idea why this was left off of Out of Time. In retrospect, I like this a lot better than some of the songs that made the record. (...) Just for experimental purposes, those of you with CD burners, do me a favor: make your own sequence for Out of Time, dropping your two least favorite songs, and adding Fretless and Free World Baby. Send your sequence to REMHQ. We'll keep them in mind for future re-issues".
“It was an artistic decision between the band and Scott Litt, the producer,” Bertis Downs, the group’s manager, tells Rockol. “The band liked it, but they weren’t sure it would work on ‘Out of Time.’ Throughout their career, this happened with several R.E.M. songs: ‘Revolution’ in the ’90s, ‘Romance,’ which was one of their most important early live songs but never included on an album. And ‘Fascinating,’ considered for at least three different records, known by fans, and then released years later for charity.”
As for giving an unreleased song to a film, Downs explains: “It depends on the film, the story, the director, how it’s placed in a scene or in the end credits, how much of it is used, and on the financial terms. It’s not rocket science, but there are many variables to consider. Of course, the fact that it was a film by a director like Wenders made everything easier.”
“R.E.M. never license their music for commercials, but we like having our songs used in films, from the very beginning,” he continues. Downs notes that this approach now extends to TV series as well, mentioning the use of “We All Go Back Where We Belong” in “Doc – Nelle tue mani,” which we covered some time ago.When the 25th-anniversary deluxe edition of “Out of Time” was released in 2016, the tracklist remained unchanged, but “Fretless” was included as a bonus track among the demos. You can also find it in the “Complete Rarities” collection on streaming platforms, and in a beautiful acoustic version on “Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions,” which the band released (in physical format only) in 2014.
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