On The Way

Album: Untethered Moon (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The 'Untethered Moon' title comes from a lyric in this song. Frontman Doug Martsch told Under The Radar magazine: "The album title already existed long before we knew the words to that song. Then the song was put together and that was just thrown in at the end like an afterthought, just to tie things together."
  • Martsch wrote several different variants of lyrics for the song before settling on this version. He explained: "Some stuff you can sort of sing whatever and it doesn't have to have any kind of a theme. But certain melodies, or something about a song make it so the words become more important. Like, I think on 'All Our Songs,' the words kind of mesh into the music a little more."

    "Whereas 'On the Way,' the melody was so upfront and focused, the words couldn't be too obscure. I tried to tell a little bit of a story, keeping it to one theme instead of just lines. I don't know why I came up with the Mars thing. Space stuff is always rad."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Lecrae

LecraeSongwriter Interviews

The Christian rapper talks about where his trip to Haiti and his history of addiction fit into his songs.

Strange Magnetics

Strange MagneticsSong Writing

How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.

Max Cavalera of Soulfly (ex-Sepultura)

Max Cavalera of Soulfly (ex-Sepultura)Songwriter Interviews

The Brazilian rocker sees pictures in his riffs. When he came up with one of his gnarliest songs, there was a riot going on.

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders

Chrissie Hynde of The PretendersSongwriter Interviews

The rock revolutionist on songwriting, quitting smoking, and what she thinks of Rush Limbaugh using her song.

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.