"The Way"- Fastball - Bass Cover (Bass Tab & Lyrics) - FRANKS BASS COVERS

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Released on January 7, 1998, as the lead single from their second studio album, All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998).

This song is based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple from Salado, Texas who drove to the annual Pioneer Day festival 10 miles away in Temple and didn't return. She had Alzheimer's disease and he was recovering from brain surgery.

Thirteen days after the Howards went missing, they were found in Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 400 miles from their destination; they were still in the vehicle (an Oldsmobile Delta 88), which had veered off the side of the road and was hidden in brush.

Fastball bassist and lead vocalist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the articles (the band is from Austin). "It's a romanticized take on what happened," he said. Scalzo pictured them "taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met."

The song opens with the sounds of an analog radio going up and down the dial, briefly tuning in stations amongst the static.

When "The Way" starts, it's as if the listener has found a song he likes and is going to give it a listen. For the first 40 seconds, the dynamics are restricted to simulate the limited frequency of a radio signal. At the line, "they drank up the wine," the full range comes in.

This was a big song in the summer of 1998. It peaked on the Billboard Airplay chart at #5 on June 20 that year.