AL's Music of the Day, 10 July 2025

The road to...?

I was cruising top-down over the holiday weekend when a song that I hadn’t heard in quite a number of years was spun on a local progressive rock station (yes, there are still a few out there.)

It was a monster hit back in 1998, topping the charts for several weeks. The band - Fastball - did not have lasting commercial success, though apparently they are still out and about and recording.

I never knew the story behind the tune “The Way” until now.

The song is a way-romanticized version of a tragic tale, penned by lead singer Tony Scalzo. The real life story is of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly and ailing couple from Texas who got lost on their way home from a local event and disappeared. They were found two weeks later, in their car at the bottom of a cliff, miles away from where their journey began.

Scalzo re-imagined the tale as one of a final, empowered act of freedom-seeking…a final thrill ride road trip. (Apparently, the song was already written and being rehearsed when the couple was found.)

I think I like Fastball’s story better.

And while it is a great road tune, now burdened with the curse of knowledge of its origins, it probably won’t have a place in my open-air playlist.