Fastball's 1998 hit "The Way" was a breezy, upbeat radio favourite that reached No. 1 on the US Alternative Airplay chart and the Top 40 in the UK, Canada and Australia, but few listeners realised the song is actually about a real-life tragedy. Frontman Tony Scalzo wrote it after reading news reports of an elderly couple who vanished in Texas in June 1997, giving the catchy tune a far darker meaning than most fans ever grasped.

The couple, Lela and Raymond Howard, both in their 80s and from Salado, Texas, set out for a nearby festival but never arrived; Lela had Alzheimer's and Raymond had recently had brain surgery. Two weeks later their bodies were found in a ravine near Hot Springs, Arkansas, hundreds of miles from home, despite having been stopped by police en route with no clear explanation of where they were going. The circumstances of their deaths remain unexplained, and Scalzo's lyrics reimagine the pair's disappearance as a peaceful, eternal journey together, giving the song an unsettling double meaning once its true inspiration is known.