Wellhorn Yards

Album: The Fitzgerald (2005)

Songfacts®:

  • This is one of a number of Richmond Fontaine tunes that evoke imagery of the Nevada city of Reno. The band's songwriter Willy Vlautin explained the story behind this song to Uncut magazine: "There are railroad tracks that run through downtown Reno. When you look out the window at the Fitzgerald you can see them. When I lived there in my 20s I used to get drunk and walk along them until I hit the industrial part of town and I'd sit in the dark against this wall and watch the trains."

    "In the song I called this area the Welhorn Yards, although there's no name I know for this area. I was pretty lonely for a lot of the time I lived in Reno. I was really shy and was really hard on myself and I didn't fit in with my old friends. So I spent a lot time getting drunk and walking around downtown."

    "When I wrote the song I started thinking how my friends growing up were the kind of guys who were mini-crooks, who would do these somewhat horrible things and I was always the kid who was just drinking beer and hearing about it. I never did the things they did. I just heard about it and saw the aftermath. Like the kid in Welhorn Yards." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    DeeTheWriter - Saint Petersburg, Russia Federation
  • The Fitzgerald album was named after Fitzgerald's Nevada Club in Reno.

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