We've got to pass some laws - for the protection of our parents
When the song "The Way" by Fastball first came out
I really liked it. Little did I know the story behind the music.
Turns out the song is about Raymond and Lela Howard, a couple from Salado, Texas who left home to attend a family reunion but never arrived. They were discovered two weeks later, dead, at the bottom of a ravine and hundreds of miles off their intended route.
According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the couple was both in their 80's. Other articles state that Lela has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Various other articles provide conflicting data stating that Raymond either had recently had suffered a stroke or had brain surgery. Due to their condition, their 57-year-old son had implored Mrs. Howard to allow him to drive them to the event (15 miles) but Lela Howard argued that they knew where they were going and had gone every year to the event. The couple apparently became disoriented and drove off a ravine near Hot Springs Arkansas - more than 350 miles from their home. The car was discovered hidden by dense brush after a wrenching two week search.
Song-writer and Fastball band-member Tony Scalzo said this about the song:
I was sitting in my kitchen one morning when I noticed an article in the paper. It was a story about the search for an elderly Central Texas couple who hadn't shown up for a family reunion. They'd been missing for more than a week, the article saying that the husband had recently suffered a stroke, so the wife would most likely be driving. She had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I began thinking of it as a song, yet I didn't want to write about the story's potentially tragic outcome (even though it had one). I wanted it to be more positive, with the couple making a conscious decision to escape the messes their adult children had left for them. I'd watched my own parents constantly trying to absorb the trouble my siblings and I got into well into our adult lives, and I wished a day would come when they wouldn't have to deal with being parents anymore. In that sense, I guess "The Way" is autobiographical.
Perhaps what the song "The Way" teaches us, and what we should have learned from the tragic story of Lela and Raymond Howard is that just as we are passing laws for the protection of children - perhaps we should begin passing laws ... for the protection of our parents.
They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down, they started walking
Where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone could see, the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It's always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll Never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today, today
The children woke up
And they couldn't find 'em
They Left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off
And left it all behind 'em
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It's always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll Never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today, today
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It's always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll Never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today, today
Turns out the song is about Raymond and Lela Howard, a couple from Salado, Texas who left home to attend a family reunion but never arrived. They were discovered two weeks later, dead, at the bottom of a ravine and hundreds of miles off their intended route.
According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the couple was both in their 80's. Other articles state that Lela has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Various other articles provide conflicting data stating that Raymond either had recently had suffered a stroke or had brain surgery. Due to their condition, their 57-year-old son had implored Mrs. Howard to allow him to drive them to the event (15 miles) but Lela Howard argued that they knew where they were going and had gone every year to the event. The couple apparently became disoriented and drove off a ravine near Hot Springs Arkansas - more than 350 miles from their home. The car was discovered hidden by dense brush after a wrenching two week search.
Song-writer and Fastball band-member Tony Scalzo said this about the song:
I was sitting in my kitchen one morning when I noticed an article in the paper. It was a story about the search for an elderly Central Texas couple who hadn't shown up for a family reunion. They'd been missing for more than a week, the article saying that the husband had recently suffered a stroke, so the wife would most likely be driving. She had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I began thinking of it as a song, yet I didn't want to write about the story's potentially tragic outcome (even though it had one). I wanted it to be more positive, with the couple making a conscious decision to escape the messes their adult children had left for them. I'd watched my own parents constantly trying to absorb the trouble my siblings and I got into well into our adult lives, and I wished a day would come when they wouldn't have to deal with being parents anymore. In that sense, I guess "The Way" is autobiographical.
Perhaps what the song "The Way" teaches us, and what we should have learned from the tragic story of Lela and Raymond Howard is that just as we are passing laws for the protection of children - perhaps we should begin passing laws ... for the protection of our parents.
They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down, they started walking
Where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone could see, the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It's always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll Never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today, today
The children woke up
And they couldn't find 'em
They Left before the sun came up that day
They just drove off
And left it all behind 'em
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It's always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll Never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today, today
Anyone could see the road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It's always summer, they'll never get cold
They'll Never get hungry
They'll never get old and gray
You can see their shadows wandering off somewhere
They won't make it home
But they really don't care
They wanted the highway
They're happy there today, today
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Track
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Artist
|
Album
|
Genre
|
Duration
|
Size
|
|
Fastball
|
All the Pain Money Can Buy
|
Alternative
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4:17
|
4344 KB
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Posted: Thu - July 7, 2005 at 07:05 PM If this blog entry was of use to you, why not show your appreciation by donating to support the site? Just click on the MAKE A DONATION button on the right hand side of the page! It's all handled by PAYPAL.
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Published On: Aug 30, 2006 06:55 AM
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Published On: Aug 30, 2006 06:55 AM