Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985–2003

Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985–2003 is a best-of compilation album of songs by the band Yo La Tengo. It was available in two- or three-disc editions, the third disc being A Smattering of Outtakes and Rarities 1986–2002.

Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985–2003
Greatest hits album by Yo La Tengo
Released	March 22, 2005
Recorded	1985–2003
Genre	Indie rock
Length	118:04
Language	English
Label	Matador
Yo La Tengo chronology
Summer Sun (2003) Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985–2003 (2005) Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics (2006)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Pitchfork Media	(8.2/10)

The front and rear cover art is reminiscent of The Beatles' Second Album in style, color and layout of band photographs.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, James McNew unless indicated otherwise.

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Source	Length
1.	"Shaker"		Shaker EP (1993)	3:20
2.	"Sugarcube"		I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997)	3:22
3.	"Barnaby, Hardly Working"	Hubley, Kaplan	President Yo La Tengo (1989)	4:36
4.	"Little Eyes"		Summer Sun (2003)	4:22
5.	"Stockholm Syndrome"		I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One	2:53
6.	"Our Way to Fall"		And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)	4:20
7.	"From a Motel 6"	Hubley, Kaplan	Painful (1993)	4:11
8.	"Swing for Life"	Hubley, Kaplan	May I Sing With Me (1992)	5:16
9.	"Tom Courtenay"		Electr-O-Pura (1995)	3:32
10.	"Lewis"	Kaplan	New Wave Hot Dogs (1987)	2:30
11.	"I Heard You Looking"		Painful	7:02
12.	"You Can Have It All"	Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch	And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out	4:37
13.	"Did I Tell You"	Kaplan	Fakebook (1990)	3:28

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Source	Length
1.	"The River of Water"	Kaplan	"The River of Water/A House Is Not a Motel" 7" single (1985)	2:31
2.	"Autumn Sweater"		I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One	5:19
3.	"Big Day Coming"	Kaplan	Painful	4:14
4.	"Pablo and Andrea"		Electr-O-Pura	4:17
5.	"Drug Test"	Kaplan	President Yo La Tengo	4:08
6.	"Season of the Shark"		Summer Sun	4:29
7.	"Upside-Down"	Kaplan	May I Sing With Me	2:41
8.	"The Summer"	Hubley, Kaplan	Fakebook	2:39
9.	"Tears Are in Your Eyes"		And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out	4:35
10.	"Blue Line Swinger"		Electr-O-Pura	9:30
11.	"The Story of Jazz"	Kaplan	New Wave Hot Dogs	3:35
12.	"Nuclear War (version 1)"	Sun Ra	Nuclear War EP (2002)	7:35
13.	"By the Time It Gets Dark"	Sandy Denny	Little Honda EP (1997)	3:02

A Smattering of Outtakes and Rarities 1986–2002

As indicated by its title, these songs are outtakes and rarities. (*) Indicates the track was previously unreleased.

Disc three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Source	Length
1.	"Stay Away from Heaven"		The film The Invisible Circus (2001)	4:31
2.	"Pencil Test" (*)		I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One outtake (1996)	3:39
3.	"Almost True" (*)		And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out outtake (1999)	3:05
4.	"Tom Courtenay (acoustic version)"		Camp Yo La Tengo EP (1995)	3:13
5.	"Big Day Coming (demo)" (*)	Kaplan	previously unreleased (1992)	3:43
6.	"Dreaming" (*)	Sun Ra, Charles Orio, Calvin Barron	previously unreleased The Cosmic Rays cover (1999)	3:37
7.	"Bad Politics"	Bruce Russell	"Tom Courtenay" single (1994)	2:59
8.	"Blue-Green Arrow"		Earworm 7" (1996)	5:42
9.	"Decora" (acoustic)" (*)		KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic session (1995)	3:06
10.	"Out the Window (original version)"		That Is Yo La Tengo EP (1991)	4:16
11.	"Weather Shy"		The film The Invisible Circus	4:54
12.	"Dreams" (Fleetwood Mac cover)	Stevie Nicks	7" single with Chemical Imbalance magazine (1986)	4:47
13.	"Autumn Sweater (Kevin Shields remix)"		Autumn Sweater EP (1997)	8:42
14.	"Ashes on the Ground"	David Fair, Mark Jickling	From a Motel 6 EP (1993)	5:15
15.	"Mr. Ameche Plays the Stranger"		Camp Yo La Tengo EP	9:19
16.	"Magnet"	Joey Spampinato, Terry Adams	NRBQ tribute album The Q People (2004)	4:10

Personnel

Yo La Tengo

• Ira Kaplan – vocals, guitar, organ
• Georgia Hubley – vocals, drums, organ
• James McNew – bass, vocals (except as noted below)
• Stephan Wichnewski – bass (disc 1: track 10, disc 2: track 11)
• Dave Schramm – guitar (disc 1: track 13, disc 2: tracks 1 & 8)
• Dave Rick – bass (disc 2: track 1), lead guitar (disc 3: track 12)

Additional musicians

• Gene Holder – bass (disc 1: tracks 3 & 8, disc 2: tracks 5 & 8, disc 3: track 10)
• Chris Stamey – guitar (disc 1: track 10)
• David Henry – cello (disc 1: track 12, disc 3: track 3)
• Al Greller – upright bass (disc 1: track 13)
• Mike Tchang – saxophone (disc 2: track 1)
• Chris Nelson – trombone (disc 2: track 1)
• Roger Moutenot – bongos (disc 2: track 2)
• Gary Larson trumpet – trumpet (disc 3: track 3)
• Steve Michener – bass (disc 3: track 12)
• Paul Niehaus – pedal steel guitar (disc 3: track 16)