Humor me for a paragraph here, but I have a really corny simile that I’m itching to try out on everyone. “Highway (Under Construction)” is sort of like an experimental, musical casserole, consisting of several, seemingly unrelated flavors. You start with a heaping tablespoon of the echoed, just-barely raspy vocal style 2-D used for “The Swagga,” follow it up with a dash of Spacemonkeys-esque techno dub, a pinch of The Velvet Underground, and ragtime piano for garnish, all of which sort of dance around the base ingredient: Good ol’, all-American country western. Not the easy-to-digest, pop-heavy clusters of “country rock,” you hear on the radio, which seem to be continuously squeezed out of the plastic anuses of useless, commercially-minded ‘artists’ such as Shania Twain or Toby Keith, but the old-school, bluesy honky-tonk countryman’s country music, which has remained a cornerstone of pretty much any poorly-lit sports bar south of the Mississippi since 1940. In fact, I’d call “Highway” more of a true-blue country song than, say, “Slow Country.” Whether or not you like this song, of course, hinges mostly on whether or not that mesh of styles works for you. Personally, it puts me into a sort of Americana trance; root beer, Wrangler’s jeans, electoral colleges, the works. If it falls flat on you, however, I only ask that you recognize how it isn’t the result of poor concept or a shaky production, but more a matter of individual tastes. Instrumentally, paying attention mostly to the under-spoken bass line and that piano solo I mentioned, I’d call this one of the strongest B-sides the band’s ever put out. Also, note that “Highway (Under Construction)” marks the return of the song title parenthetical, previously seen in such Phase 1 cuts as “Sound Check (Gravity)” and “New Genious (Brother).” - Wazawaii

Official song credits

Written by Gorillaz
Performed by Gorillaz
Produced by Gorillaz, Dangermouse, Jason Cox and James Dring
Co-produced by Jason Cox
Engineered by Jason Cox
Pro-Tools by James Dring
Assistant engineer: Toby Whelan

Versions & availibility(Click links for exact discographical details)

"Highway (Under Construction)" [4:21] - available on the UK CD2, the Japanese, mainland Europe and Australian CDs of DARE

Live

Not going to be performed live at the upcoming gigs.