"The Way" is a song by the American alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Fastball

Fastball (band)

Fastball is an American rock band that formed in Austin, Texas in the 1990s. The band originally called themselves "Magneto U.S.A." but changed their name after signing with Hollywood Records....

 from their second studio album, All the Pain Money Can Buy

All the Pain Money Can Buy

All the Pain Money Can Buy is the second album by American pop-rock band Fastball, released on March 10, 1998, on Hollywood Records. The album includes the hit singles "The Way" , "Fire Escape" , and "Out of My Head" .-Track listing:...

. It peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

 chart in April and remained there for seven weeks. The song also reached #1 on Canada's Singles Chart. It peaked at #21 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, having had a fair amount of airplay from independent radio stations such as Forth One.

The song was voted by VH1 as one of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 1990s, ranking at #94. The song was remixed about a year after its original release by Italian DJ Gigi D'Agostino

Gigi D'Agostino

Luigino Celestino Di Agostino , better known by his stage name Gigi D'Agostino, is an Italian DJ, remixer and record producer...

, in his album L'Amour Toujours

L'Amour Toujours (album)

L'Amour Toujours is the third studio album by Italian DJ Gigi D'Agostino, released in 1999. Both single and two-disc versions were released.-Single-disc version:# Another Way - 6:03# L'Amour Toujours - 6:56# Elisir - 5:34...

. Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

 covered the song for their 2007 video game Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks (video game)

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a video game based on the film of the same name. The game was released on December 4, 2007 and was the first release by short-lived video game company Brash Entertainment. It follows The Chipmunks as they play their way from small venues to massive crowds at Burning Munk...

.

Inspiration

"The Way" revolves around an older married couple who decide to give it all away by packing up and going driving. Along the way, their car breaks down, so they continue on foot. As the song goes on, it becomes apparent that these two achieve happiness by losing touch with the world.

Fastball bassist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading journalistic articles which described the disappearance of an older married couple, Lela and Raymond Howard

Lela and Raymond Howard

Lela and Raymond Howard were an elderly married couple from Salado, Texas that made national headlines in July 1997 when they disappeared while driving to a local festival. They were later found deceased over 500 miles away near Hot Springs, Arkansas...

 from Salado, Texas

Salado, Texas

Salado is a village in Bell County, Texas, United States. Salado was first incorporated in 1867 for the sole purpose of building a bridge across the Salado Creek...

, who left home in June 1997 to attend the Pioneer Day festival at nearby Temple, Texas

Temple, Texas

Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...

, but never arrived. They were discovered two weeks later, dead, at the bottom of a ravine

Ravine

A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...

 near Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...

, hundreds of miles off their intended route.

About the song, Scalzo said that "It's a romanticized take on what happened" - he "pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met."

The beginning of the song features a radio scanning through FM stations; among the songs played are Jewel's "Foolish Games

Foolish Games

"Foolish Games" is a song by Jewel released as her third/fourth and final single, taken from her debut album Pieces of You. It was also the third single to be lifted from the Batman & Robin motion picture soundtrack...

", Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison

Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...

's "You Got It

You Got It

"You Got It" is a song from Roy Orbison's album, Mystery Girl . The song reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the adult contemporary chart , returning Orbison to the Top 40 for the first time in 24 years. It also hit number three on the UK Singles Chart in the spring of 1989...

", and Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

's "Vogue."

Track listing

• US CD Single:

1. "The Way"
2. "Are You Ready for the Fallout?"
3. "Freeloader Freddy"

• US Promo CD:

1. "The Way (Radio Edit)"
2. "The Way (Album Version)"

Charts

Chart (1998)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	21
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Hot 100 Airplay The Hot 100 Airplay chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts, along with the Hot Singles Sales and the Hot Digital Songs charts, that determine the chart positions of singles on the Billboard...	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks Adult Top 40 is a variation on the United States Billboard charts...	2
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	25
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	4
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks Top 40 Tracks Top 40 Tracks is a defunct airplay chart from Billboard Magazine. It was created in 1998, when Billboard Magazine changed the airplay profile of The Hot 100 Airplay to include more R&B, Country, and Rock stations to its profile . To preserve the notion of the former chart, Top 40 Tracks was...	31
Canadian RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....	1
Canadian RPM Alternative 30 RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	1