What are the best Yo La Tengo songs?

I used to love them; then I kinda grew out of meandering VU-inspired rock, and I haven't spun anything by them in a couple of years. But 'Sugarcube' and 'Stockholm Syndrome' are pretty much perfect songs to me.

I would second Mr Tough. I also like

Night Falls on Hoboken
Let's Save Tony Orlando's House
You Can Have It All
Cherry Chapstick (prolly my fave song by them)
Cast A Shadow

Deeper into Movies
Upside Down
Barnaby Hardly Working
Lewis
Tom Courtenay
Blue Line Swinger

They're all good.

("Cast a Shadow" is a Beat Happening song).

YLT POX OTTOMH

1. Don't Say a Word
2. Barnaby, Hardly Working
3. Decora
3. From a Motel 6
4. My Heart's Reflection
5. Blue Line Swinger
6. Nowhere Near
7. A Worrying Thing
8. Green Arrow
9. Autumn Sweater
10. Today is the Day

i, for one, think "pass the hatchet" is one of the best things they've ever done

i heard you looking

No "Stockholm Syndrome," no credibility

Man you guys are making me feel old.

"Tom Courtenay" acoustic version (from the Camp Yo La Tengo 7" I think), "Upside Down," "Drug Test," cover of the Dead C's "Bad Politics"...

One of those bands that, when someone mentions them, you're all 'yeah, pretty good band,' but then you start remembering all the great songs, and you're like 'Wow, wot a GREAT band!'

very hard to pick, but from what I have on my itunes at the moment:
1. Pablo & Andrea
2. Pass The Hatchet
3. The Summer
4. Tom Courtenay
5. From A Motel 6
6. Tears Are In Your Eyes
7. Weakest Part
8. Stockholm Syndrome
9. Our Way To Fall
10. I Heard You Looking
But there are easily 20-30 other tunes I could pick, I think. One of the few bands I love as much today as I did when i was a teenager.

I could do with no "Stockholm Syndrome" period. McNoooooooooooooooooooooo.

deeper into movies gets my vote...

also their version of "ashes on the ground" is phenomenal

seeing Yo La Tengo on Sunday at ACL Festival in Austin, TX (an hour long set), then the following Monday evening for a 300-capacity show at the Parish, also in Austin.

very excited.

one of those bands i like more in theory than in practice. that said, "blue line swinger" is absolutely spellbinding.

Jack Battery-Pack otm about "Ashes On the Ground" -- there should probably be a separate discussion for best covers that YLT has done. Though there are about a billion of them (not even taking into consideration their annual WFMU request thing). Off the top of my head, "You Tore Me Down," "Speeding Motorcycle", "Yellow Sarong" "By The Time It Gets Dark", "Take Care", "Whole of the Law" ... a lot of great ones ...

Let me just chip in another "Blue Line Swinger" recommendation -- don't think much tops this.

Yes^^^^

Blue Line Swinger is probably their best, I get shivers just thinking about it.
Also:
Sugarcube, Tom Courtenay, Moby Octopad (really underrated I think), Little Eyes, Straight Down To The Bitter End.

SUGARCUBE
GRISELDA (cover)

also: Big Day Coming (the electric version). From Painful, the album that finally made me a bona-fide Yo La Tengo fan.

My favorite YLT cover is probably "For Shame Of Doing Wrong," from the B-side of the "Shaker" single. But they've got hundreds of good ones.

big day coming IS great!

Nowhere Near
Green Arrow
The Summer
Satellite
Big Day Coming
My Heart's Reflection
Blue Line Swinger
Tom Courtenay
Moby Octopad
My Little Corner of the World

"Blue Line Swinger", then "Deeper Into Movies" and "Night Falls On Hoboken".

Ballad of Red Buckets is sometimes my favorite off Painful.

Best cover is "Emulsified" by v much

They do a good cover of Gene Clark's "Tried So Hard."
Probably hard to goof that song up, though.

"Sugarcube" is totally awesome and that video is still funny as shit.

season of the shark
madeline
autumn sweater
sudden organ
nuclear war (cover)
let's be still

TS: Yo La Tengo's "I Heard You Looking" vs Yo La Tengo's "Blue Line Swinger"

the ep (plugged-in) version of 'today is the day' > album version

Damage

Shaker

Autumn Sweater made me a fan. Also:

Pablo and Andrea
Shaker
Sudden Organ
I Feel Like Going Home
The Lie and How We Told It
From a Motel 6
The Summer
Alrock's Bells
False Alarm
The Asparagus Song (best reason to get the President/New Wave Hot Dogs release)

They did a nice cover of "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry." I have no idea where it was released, though.

stockholm syndrome
out of tune

i don't remember any more names but anyway I know those are my favorites

the crying of lot g

the lie and how we told it is gorgeous, one of the first of theirs to grab me. the guitars are perfect

TS: Yo La Tengo's "I Heard You Looking" vs Yo La Tengo's "Blue Line Swinger"

Deeper Into Movies, both electric and acoustic versions.

'pablo and andrea' is all-time, of course, but i must show some love here for 'the race is on again'

best album is i am not afraid of you and i will beat your ass, their most diverse collection of genre experiments and really moving songs bookended by two epics.

We Are An American Band

But also Blue Line Swinger

And also Night Falls On Hoboken

last YLT album i listened to was Painful, so for me at the moment the best Yo La Tengo songs are "Nowhere Near" and "I Heard You Looking"

Let's Save Tony Orlando's House
Avalon or Someone Very Similar
Nowhere Near
Drug Test
The Last Days of Disco

And then Nothing... is their best. Timeless melodies, perfect atmosphere.