About YHF, two things...

1. My brother and I have had a heated disagreement as to whether the person speaking that line on "Poor Places" is an English woman (as I say), or an English boy. After repeated listenings on some pretty good headphones, I have to say... meh, could go either way. Listen again and tell me what you think.

2. I recall reading something about the significance (or lack thereof) of those exact letters when the album came out. I believe the sound clip was used before they titled the album, and they just liked the idea of some message, in quasi-code, emerging from the noise and fuzz and clatter. (And by "they" I mean "Tweedy," of course.) I don't think the specific letters are meant to be meaningful.

I think the words "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" make a great album name, regardless of meaning. It sounds like some crazy dance step you can only do after multiple shots at the lobby bar of the Yankee Hotel.