Yo La Tengo Brings Their Live Show To NPR's Studio

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

You know, Steve and I were talking about how we both had the same reaction when we arrived at work this morning. We walked out of the quiet darkness outside into the NPR building and heard something we never hear - music echoing through the lobby. It was coming from here in Studio 1. This is our large performance space right off the lobby. I'm sitting here right now. And the sound was the rock band Yo La Tengo warming up, getting ready to play all of the music you're hearing on the show this morning.

Two band members, who are off to my right - Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley - are married, and they've been making music together for a long time. They're ready to play anything. And actually on one tour, they let a lucky fan in the audience pick what songs they would play by spinning the wheel of Yo La Tengo. Now today, we are choosing the music based on the news on our show. It's what we always do with our music. But for the first time in MORNING EDITION's history, we're not doing it as we normally do because we have a band right here doing it. So here now is Yo La Tengo playing one of their songs, "Ohm." Go for it.

YO LA TENGO: (Singing) Sometimes the bad guys come out on top. Sometimes the good guys lose. We try not to lose our hearts, not to lose our minds. Sometimes the bad days maintain their grip. Sometimes the good days fade. Hurts the brain to think, hurts the head to dream. But nothing ever stays the same. Nothing's explained. The higher we go, the longer we fly.

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