BFM radio is the premier and only business radio station in Malaysia. It first went on air on 4 September 2008 and is still going strong by championing for a better Malaysia. It stays relevant by discussing current issues that plague our society.
I have been an avid listener since they aired way back in 2008. I do sometimes listen to other radio stations and when I hear what correspondence takes places between their presenters, I ponder and am thankful for BFM for tackling grave issues our society faces daily.
This morning 4th December 2017, whilst on the way to work at about 6.30am, the presenters on the 6am stretch were discussing bicycles and its impact on the environment. During one of the break slots, Fastball, “The Way” was played.
It brought back memories. The song was released in 1998. The peak of recession for the Malaysian Economy.
Lead singer, Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the disappearance of an elderly married couple, Lela 83 (already showing signs of dementia, Alzheimers) and Raymond 88 (recovering from brain surgery due to a recently stroke) from Salado, Texas. They left home on 29 June 1997 to attend the Pioneer Day festival 15 miles away at Temple, Texas. Their maroon Oldsmobile was discovered on 12 July, at the bottom of a 25 foot cliff near Hot Springs, Arkansas, 500 hundred miles off their intended route.
The beginning of the song features a radio scanning through various stations before commencing to the actual song.
The song, supposed to be a romanticized take on what actually happened. Lead singer, Tony Scalzo, pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met.
The lyrics revolve around them deciding to pack their belongings and leave their life behind. However, the car breaks down half way and they are forced to continue their journey on foot. Achieving happiness by losing touch with the world, even though they may never see their home again.
The real story is however, more grim and eerie. In 1986. Salado, Texas, Lela and Raymond are strangers. They're both grandparents and having lost their respective spouses. They met and fell madly in love and got married. They share everything especially their love for music.
When it came time for the Pioneer Day Festival, the family offered to assist but Lela was adamant that she could do without any assistance.
The family knew something was amiss when it was already night and they had not returned back.
They were found dead. Raymond was still in the passenger seat, but Lela was about 20 feet away in a ravine, clutching her purse and car keys. Apparently after the car went over the cliff, she put her car in park, turned off her headlights, opened the passenger side door for her deceased husband, and crawled away to die from her injuries sustained in the crash. There were no skid marks found at the top of the cliff, indicating that Lela’s car had driven straight off the edge. Investigators estimated that the car had been going around 50 miles per hour when it drove off the cliff. Lela likely didn’t see the cliff edge or was in some other way distracted, or even became momentarily confused and lost the ability to safely drive.
Despite “The Way” being a cheerful, energetic and optimistically sounding, its lyrics are undoubtedly haunting:
“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 can 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 grey
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 happier there today, today
Their children woke up and they couldn't find them
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?”
Perhaps, Dr. Frank N. Furter best describes that moment they drove off the cliff:
“it wasn’t 1997 anymore. Maybe it was a much earlier time for them. Maybe their damaged psyches spared them from the sad reality. Perhaps in that moment for Lela and Raymond, there were no more medications, no more hearing aids, and no more doctor’s appointments. No aching joints, no glasses, no operations, no pacemakers, no forgetting, and no more confusion. Maybe in that moment, and for their entire trip, Lela and Raymond saw themselves as a newly-wed couple, their young skin perpetually gleaming in the summer sun, Lela in her best white wedding dress and Raymond in his finest black tuxedo. Maybe they envisioned a “JUST MARRIED” sign hanging on the back of their rear window, and empty soup cans tied to their rear bumper.
I wonder if they held hands.
“it wasn’t 1997 anymore. Maybe it was a much earlier time for them. Maybe their damaged psyches spared them from the sad reality. Perhaps in that moment for Lela and Raymond, there were no more medications, no more hearing aids, and no more doctor’s appointments. No aching joints, no glasses, no operations, no pacemakers, no forgetting, and no more confusion. Maybe in that moment, and for their entire trip, Lela and Raymond saw themselves as a newly-wed couple, their young skin perpetually gleaming in the summer sun, Lela in her best white wedding dress and Raymond in his finest black tuxedo. Maybe they envisioned a “JUST MARRIED” sign hanging on the back of their rear window, and empty soup cans tied to their rear bumper.
I wonder if they held hands.
Maybe when Lela and Raymond Howard drove off that cliff in Arkansas in 1997, they weren’t scared.
Maybe they were smiling”.
God bless. In the loving memory of Lela and Raymond Howard.
They are resting next to their respective first spouses
They are resting next to their respective first spouses
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