Fastball’s The Way came out in 1998 and was a minor hit. You can see why: it’s an upbeat sounding track that’s easy to spin.

Your scribe heard it for the first time over the weekend, and it’s entered the pantheon of tracks which make them cry.

Those two sentences seem at odds don’t they, but when you listen to the lyrics, you find it’s a much darker tune, especially when you know the context: it’s based on a true story. The song was written when police were searching for an old couple, her with Alzheimer’s, him having had brain surgery, who went to a festival one day and never returned. They just drove off.

The song was finished before the tragic end: police found the couple, deceased, over 400 miles away, still in their car, still going out on their terms.