This song is based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple from Salado, Texas who drove to a nearby family reunion and kept going. She had Alzheimer's disease and he was recovering from brain surgery. When they disappeared, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman wrote a series of articles about the missing couple. Fastball bassist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the articles (the band is from Austin). He says, "It's a romanticized take on what happened" - he "pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met." However, he found out after writing the song that the couple had died. They were found at the bottom of a canyon in Arkansas about a 3-day drive from their destination. (thanks, Crystal - Springfield, MO)
Hey, this post was well to point and tight. But I think there's more going on here poetically in terms of human mythic value for people than I found expressed in the 6 or 7 comments I just read tonight.
Hey, this post was well to point and tight. But I think there's more going on here poetically in terms of human mythic value for people than I found expressed in the 6 or 7 comments I just read tonight.
So I posted one tonight that says the below:
I've read authenticated comments from the author of the lyrics that tie the song to the story of the elderly couple who drove off and disappeared to later be found dead in an auto accident (possibly dementia-related). But even if not consciously intended, I think this song deserves high praise for its transcendent lyrics....
So I posted one tonight that says the below:
I've read authenticated comments from the author of the lyrics that tie the song to the story of the elderly couple who drove off and disappeared to later be found dead in an auto accident (possibly dementia-related). But even if not consciously intended, I think this song deserves high praise for its transcendent lyrics.
Compare it to the recent hit song by Portugal. The Man "Feel it Still" and tell me you don't see how it could relate very well to some themes that band's latest album (entitled "Woodstock") expresses.
For example, the chaotic social landscape of 1960's and 1970's America certainly included examples of parents leaving children behind. Sometimes it was young women or couples on their way to Woodstock who might ditch their kids with moms & pops for way too long. In that respect, the story of "The Way" can be compared to "Feel it Still." In the latter, "Leave her for the babystitter, momma, call the grave digger" carries a similar suggestion to the former's "The children woke up and they couldn't find them; they left before the sun came up that day."
I'm suggesting that The Way conveys very well a different story than that of two old senile people driving off the road. It has always led me to think of the things that might make adults (proper citizens, perhaps) abscond from even their children in favor of living as wandering shadows (vs. the life they seem to face otherwise). And not all the ideas I have about why people might do that are dark or terrible. Sometimes maybe it's just 1971 and too much of what you were told has recently been proven BULLSHIT. For some people that might just be enough to make them bail for "a weekend to themselves" and then maybe never end up coming back.
a very quick search of the web shows:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3701
This song is based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple from Salado, Texas who drove to a nearby family reunion and kept going. She had Alzheimer's disease and he was recovering from brain surgery. When they disappeared, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman wrote a series of articles about the missing couple. Fastball bassist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the articles (the band is from Austin). He says, "It's a romanticized take on what happened" - he "pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met." However, he found out after writing the song that the couple had died. They were found at the bottom of a canyon in Arkansas about a 3-day drive from their destination. (thanks, Crystal - Springfield, MO)
@kittymom
@kittymom
Hey, this post was well to point and tight. But I think there's more going on here poetically in terms of human mythic value for people than I found expressed in the 6 or 7 comments I just read tonight.
Hey, this post was well to point and tight. But I think there's more going on here poetically in terms of human mythic value for people than I found expressed in the 6 or 7 comments I just read tonight.
So I posted one tonight that says the below: I've read authenticated comments from the author of the lyrics that tie the song to the story of the elderly couple who drove off and disappeared to later be found dead in an auto accident (possibly dementia-related). But even if not consciously intended, I think this song deserves high praise for its transcendent lyrics....
So I posted one tonight that says the below: I've read authenticated comments from the author of the lyrics that tie the song to the story of the elderly couple who drove off and disappeared to later be found dead in an auto accident (possibly dementia-related). But even if not consciously intended, I think this song deserves high praise for its transcendent lyrics.
Compare it to the recent hit song by Portugal. The Man "Feel it Still" and tell me you don't see how it could relate very well to some themes that band's latest album (entitled "Woodstock") expresses.
For example, the chaotic social landscape of 1960's and 1970's America certainly included examples of parents leaving children behind. Sometimes it was young women or couples on their way to Woodstock who might ditch their kids with moms & pops for way too long. In that respect, the story of "The Way" can be compared to "Feel it Still." In the latter, "Leave her for the babystitter, momma, call the grave digger" carries a similar suggestion to the former's "The children woke up and they couldn't find them; they left before the sun came up that day."
I'm suggesting that The Way conveys very well a different story than that of two old senile people driving off the road. It has always led me to think of the things that might make adults (proper citizens, perhaps) abscond from even their children in favor of living as wandering shadows (vs. the life they seem to face otherwise). And not all the ideas I have about why people might do that are dark or terrible. Sometimes maybe it's just 1971 and too much of what you were told has recently been proven BULLSHIT. For some people that might just be enough to make them bail for "a weekend to themselves" and then maybe never end up coming back.