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May 2015 Challenge - 'Highway Star' by Deep Purple

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My recently discovered 80s voice might get me there. But even if I go that route I'm interested in more original interpretations.

 

My difficulty is with the lyrics of the song.

 

Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound
Ooh it's a killing machine, it's got everything
Like a drawing power big fat tires everything

I love it, and I need it, I bleed it
Yeah it's a wild hurricane
Alright, hold tight. I'm a highway star

Nobody gonna take my girl I'm gonna keep her to the end
Nobody gonna have my girl she stays close on every bend
Ooh she's a killing machine she's got everything
Like a moving mouth, body control and everything

I love her, I need her, I seed her
Yeah she turns me on
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star

Nobody gonna take my head, I got speed inside my brain
Nobody gonna steal my head, now that I'm on the road again
Ooh I'm in heaven again, I've got everything
Like a moving ground, throttle control and everything

I love it, I need it, I seed it
Eight cylinders all mine
Alright hold tight, I'm a highway star

Nobody gonna take my car

I'm a highway star, I'm a highway star

 

I don't understand a way to interpret the lyrics. It's basically about driving a car or a girl fast. So screaming at a high tempo seems an obvious interpretation of the song to articulate both. I suppose yelling with mixture of enthusiasm and a menace to anyone who dared to take away the narrator's fun would work. But it reads a bit one dimensional lyrically for me, so the amount of interpretation room isn't as high as some others might be for different moods and interpretations. Might require a lyric rewrite to convey a different vocal personality outside of yelling and or screaming. 

 

I already have  potential rewrite in mind, that I might sing from.

​Well, look at what's being said throughout, and try to put it together.

"Nobody gonna take my girl I'm gonna keep her to the end
Nobody gonna have my girl she stays close on every bend
"

He's oozing with confidence. The way I would do this is I would imagine myself as a Nascar driver where I'm going for the championship. Or if you want

"Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound"

Maybe he's in an illegal street race where the stakes are high, because the loser will lose their car. Fast and Furious vibe, anyone?

"Nobody gonna steal my head, now that I'm on the road again
Ooh I'm in heaven again, I've got everything
"

He was out of commission for a while. Maybe he got into a crash where he came this close to dying, which would explain how confident he is to be racing again. He feels immortal. Or maybe something happened to his car, and it was saved. Lots of different ways to take this where you can explain the feeling he was having here.

"I love it, I need it, I seed it
Eight cylinders all mine
Alright hold tight, I'm a highway star
"

He can't live without racing, which is why he's doing it again, building off of what I said in the last excerpt. And you see the name of the song mentioned here, "highway star". You can say it all took place on a highway.

So, to sum up this interpretation, he participates in illegal races where the loser loses his/her car, he's extremely confident because he was in a crash and nearly died, may have even be declared dead, but he survived it. There may have even been foul play there. He may have contemplated not coming back to racing, but he can't live without the thrill, so he's back on the highway and he won't lose.

Whether you like racing or not, just put yourself in his shoes. Maybe he wasn't even into racing before. He's just a mechanic and one of his family members was sick, so he got involved in racing so he could afford the medical bills, but he found out he loved it along the way. Lots of ways you can play this.

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To me this song is about freedom and the joy of it. Like it says im on top of the world and noone can touch me. I understand KillerKu likes alot of authors and singers with a more sense of emotion and depth to the lyrics, and i agree this song is kinda superficial and self obsessed but that what rock and roll is. Or was xD. 

Maybe aproach it with a mindset of a winner. Grab a mic and just let it rip. Aint nobody whose better than you :)

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If we're doing Highway Star, I'm in.

Question: I have no idea how to use Reaper. If I wanted in on this challenge, how long would it take for me to pick it up and mix a proper track in time for the challenge?

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If we're doing Highway Star, I'm in.

Question: I have no idea how to use Reaper. If I wanted in on this challenge, how long would it take for me to pick it up and mix a proper track in time for the challenge?

​I now have Reaper, as well and I am learning a lot. Don't hesitate to pm me or email me, which I could give in a pm, although I think it shows it on my profile page, too.

 

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So are we really doing highway star?

​Looks like 7 people want to do it, so yeah. I didn't even know what song that was until I heard the lyrics. I just wanted to approach something new without me having any say in it so that I could really approach something fresh that wasn't my idea.

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Ok guys... this is a great idea. Thanks GSoul for coming around to the obvious... I seems this is where this whole "Challenge" idea is destined to go and the reasons why this is valuable to the community and each of us is so numerous, we can't even list it. So, yes... I think this is a "real deal" project that puts some real mojo into what we are doing here and ... what we SHOULD be doing here.

Some Guidance:

  • Someone has to own it. Someone needs to manage this and make sure that each month, there is a new challenge, that the challenge is reasonable for most people, that they hit the timelines/deadlines, etc... and that that person moderates the challenge. I would be happy to give this person Moderator status if they do not already have it, to help you to manage the traffic.... so the first thing we need to make this a reality is someone needs to step up and own it. I just don't have the time guys... Im already buried in other things that have to get done on this site, and my own TVS product development and... trying find time to sing with the rest of you on top of all that. I can't do this, someone has to lead this initiative.

 

  • I would not try to get too narrow on genres. It like trying to define all the shades of blue... this is a slippery slope you will never get out of. Just keep the genre's fairly broad and pick a song that generally is considered to be in that genre. For example, I really don't perceive "Metal" to be different the "Rock". Isn't Metal really just a sub-form of "Rock"? If not, fine... but you get my point. We don't need "Metal" and then "Screamo" and then "Classic Metal" and then "Prog Metal"... you get my point, that will never end... keep it tight to 6 - 8 top tier genres... forget about trying to define sub-genres.

 

  • This is really an extension of the popular "Review My Singing" forum that is going on in here. It might be best if you post the challenges under "Review My Singing"... and that being the case... this is less about showing off, and probably more about getting feedback on your singing, understanding a new style, and even recording production! This will force people to make recordings... which is a whole other set of know-how and art form... which is one thing that makes this idea cool. If forces people to learn how to make home recordings. Therefore, people should also share and discuss production elements, plug-ins, preamps, microphones, DAWs, etc... to make this an even broader educational experience. 

 

  • Whom ever is managing this... consider making a poll. Post a poll and anchor anchor it to the top of the forum that simply asks what genre's people want to do... that will be helpful to pick songs that everyone will participate in. Everyone has the ability to make polls on this forum.

 

  • You could conceivably make it more gamey too... by posting a poll at the end of each Challenge that allows the community to may anonymous votes on which version they liked the most. The winner could get something... I don't know what yet, but perhaps a free listing on the Directory, or warm up scale from me and Daniel... or something like that.

 

Have fun with this and drive all the way through... lets make this real. Its one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time. Keep me posted on what you want to do and who will manage it... have a plan. Don't just post a good idea... be prepared with a plan and manage it.

Rob

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Ok guys... this is a great idea. Thanks GSoul for coming around to the obvious... I seems this is where this whole "Challenge" idea is destined to go and the reasons why this is valuable to the community and each of us is so numerous, we can't even list it. So, yes... I think this is a "real deal" project that puts some real mojo into what we are doing here and ... what we SHOULD be doing here.

Some Guidance:

  • Someone has to own it. Someone needs to manage this and make sure that each month, there is a new challenge, that the challenge is reasonable for most people, that they hit the timelines/deadlines, etc... and that that person moderates the challenge. I would be happy to give this person Moderator status if they do not already have it, to help you to manage the traffic.... so the first thing we need to make this a reality is someone needs to step up and own it. I just don't have the time guys... Im already buried in other things that have to get done on this site, and my own TVS product development and... trying find time to sing with the rest of you on top of all that. I can't do this, someone has to lead this initiative.

 

  • I would not try to get too narrow on genres. It like trying to define all the shades of blue... this is a slippery slope you will never get out of. Just keep the genre's fairly broad and pick a song that generally is considered to be in that genre. For example, I really don't perceive "Metal" to be different the "Rock". Isn't Metal really just a sub-form of "Rock"? If not, fine... but you get my point. We don't need "Metal" and then "Screamo" and then "Classic Metal" and then "Prog Metal"... you get my point, that will never end... keep it tight to 6 - 8 top tier genres... forget about trying to define sub-genres.

 

  • This is really an extension of the popular "Review My Singing" forum that is going on in here. It might be best if you post the challenges under "Review My Singing"... and that being the case... this is less about showing off, and probably more about getting feedback on your singing, understanding a new style, and even recording production! This will force people to make recordings... which is a whole other set of know-how and art form... which is one thing that makes this idea cool. If forces people to learn how to make home recordings. Therefore, people should also share and discuss production elements, plug-ins, preamps, microphones, DAWs, etc... to make this an even broader educational experience. 

 

  • Whom ever is managing this... consider making a poll. Post a poll and anchor anchor it to the top of the forum that simply asks what genre's people want to do... that will be helpful to pick songs that everyone will participate in. Everyone has the ability to make polls on this forum.

 

  • You could conceivably make it more gamey too... by posting a poll at the end of each Challenge that allows the community to may anonymous votes on which version they liked the most. The winner could get something... I don't know what yet, but perhaps a free listing on the Directory, or warm up scale from me and Daniel... or something like that.

 

Have fun with this and drive all the way through... lets make this real. Its one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time. Keep me posted on what you want to do and who will manage it... have a plan. Don't just post a good idea... be prepared with a plan and manage it.

Rob

Hey, Rob. I'd be happy to manage it. And I'm glad you  got around to weighing in on this topic. The whole point of this is for everyone to learn without feeling any kind of pressure not to post their version because they feel it's inadequate.The anonymous voting system is a way to take care of that. The more I expand my musical horizons, o find songs that I normally wouldn't listen to and I like them. My appreciation for different sounds grow. I saw how the All of Me Challenge brought the community together, and I thought we needed more of that.

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You do realize, G, new mod buys everyone lunch... right?

jk.

I think you are a natural for this, having arisen out of  your ideas and you seem well-suited to gathering information and opinions on this.

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Hey, Rob. I'd be happy to manage it. And I'm glad you  got around to weighing in on this topic. The whole point of this is for everyone to learn without feeling any kind of pressure not to post their version because they feel it's inadequate.The anonymous voting system is a way to take care of that. The more I expand my musical horizons, o find songs that I normally wouldn't listen to and I like them. My appreciation for different sounds grow. I saw how the All of Me Challenge brought the community together, and I thought we needed more of that.

​GSoul82 is now a member of our Moderator team and is the "Manager of Challenges"... Congratulations GSoul82... There are people all over the world that will be counting on you and will appreciate your help in doing this. I don't suspect that it has to be a big time sucking endeavor... its just a couple polls a month, choose a song and encourage people to participate. Again, lets try to make this not only about singing, but also about production / making recordings since that is half the battle... And frankly, a singer that can't make a decent home recording or doesn't know much about that is missing an important skill set required to audition, make demos, learn songs, know what the **** your doing when you go to a real studio with your band and no embarrassing yourself, learning about effects, compression, comping, DAWs, etc... I think this is a really cool aspect of this project.

Singers need to have the basics of recordings and production learned and understood as well as singing!

Without production, you got... your bathroom. Last time I checked, its kinda hard for people to hear you in there, other then your mother... recordings is half the art form.

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You do realize, G, new mod buys everyone lunch... right?

jk.

I think you are a natural for this, having arisen out of  your ideas and you seem well-suited to gathering information and opinions on this.

​So be it. Quarterpounders with cheese all around :lol:

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Alright, everyone. It's going to be Highway Star by Deep Purple this month. This month's contest will end June 5th. As it nears the end, we'll discuss what we're going to do next month and have everything chosen so that we can go right into the next one on June 6th. On May 26th, a poll will be created so we can start voting on next month's genre. Recordings should all be in on June 2nd. Then, we will have 3 days of anonymous voting and we will see who was selected. If anybody has any suggestions about any of this, go ahead and speak your mind. I may be managing this topic, but this is about the way everyone wants to do this. I'm just putting things into motion.

It's very encouraged that people take to audio arranging programs when creating your final recording. Just as the last challenge, it's also encouraged that people post rough versions of what they've done so far throughout the month.. I know everybody may not have the most powerful computer, but it's very important to explore this and learn, As Rob said, it's a very valuable skill. If you have no idea about these programs, you're not alone at all. Several people here will be trying to learn their way around these programs, me included.

Keep in mind that this is all about fun and learning. Let's get to work and see what we accomplish.

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Good choice for a rock song. Classic, not impossible, but can also be a real chocker if you don't have your acoustic mass and narrowed vowels down. Cool, I might give this one a try myself

 

Now, THAT would be really cool!

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Well I figure I should get the ball moving. I had to warm up today so I took a shot at this song. Failed at properly sirening up to the G#5 but took a sing at the rest of the song:

 

https://app.box.com/s/jywkmpdpvv6tcwecd3mcwxgg5vc1cuin

 

I don't think I'll count this towards the challenge because I rested twice due to nerve pain and it's not fair if it isn't completely live but hopefully it will get the ball rolling.

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... I merged this older "Highway Star" Challenge with GSoul82's new "Highway Star" challenge to try to keep it clean and in one topic... sorry for any confusion. And thanks again for Gsoul82 and his leadership in this great idea... 

... Im miro-managing a little bit this morning just to make sure this new "Challenge" idea is clean, orderly and has process to insure its success... thanks for your patience with my intrusions. But please note, GSoul82 is your "go to" guy on these challenges if you have any requests, ideas or concerns.

Robert

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lol when i proposed these monthly challlenges i didnt actually think it would blow out like this... im glad it did...like i said back in the days on that guitar forum we used to host these, and this was actually the thing that made me improve drastically.

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lol when i proposed these monthly challlenges i didnt actually think it would blow out like this... im glad it did...like i said back in the days on that guitar forum we used to host these, and this was actually the thing that made me improve drastically.

​It's a cool idea. I've never had much of a competitive streak, which is unusual, but even for me it's cool. A lot of times I'll be in between songs that interest me so having a random 'it' song is useful. 

I decided since I don't emotionally connect much with the lyrics of this song to instead sing the melody more like an instrument. Movement, flow, and a personality. If I extend that further I might be able to jazz it up.

Are we going to scrounge up a karaoke track like was done for All of Me? I just sang a reference note and used a metronome.

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Folks... I don't think this is a competition. If its a competition, it won't succeed. People won't "compete"... this is not about competing... it about learning and getting a review on your singing, ... but at the same time, comparing your version to others, learning from others how they got through it, learning how to make home recordings and to "challenge" yourself, not each other... 

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