Billy Joel: Pressure Meaning

Song Released: 1982

Pressure Lyrics

You have to learn to pace yourself
PRESSURE
You're just like everybody else
PRESSURE
You've only had to run so far, so good
But you will come to a place
Where the only thing you feel
Are loaded guns in your face
And you'll have to deal...

1. anonymous

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   May 14th 2012 report

   Overall life can be a boiling pot of pressure Can you handle it, or is your pressure in life any worse than mine or is my pressure worse? Watch the video by billy joel one of his very very best!
2. anonymous

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   Feb 4th 2012 report

   The thing that's confusing about the song is the references to a second person, he addresses them as "You". Who is this person? I think it's himself, in regards to one of the potential ways we all respond to pressure. No matter how bent and cynical we get there's still a part of us that responds to pressure with an innocent face. Which is probably part of what makes us respond, even when we're bent and cynical. That dynamic of responding innocently to pressure, then responding cynically to the innocence is part of what keeps it all going.
3. anonymous

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   Jun 21st 2011 report

   During the recording of his 1982 album "The Nylon Curtain", Billy Joel had writer's block. Someone came to him and told him to calm down since he seemed to be under a lot of pressure. Then Billy Joel wrote this song from the trouble of trying to write another song for the album.
4. anonymous

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   Mar 19th 2011 report

   This song is about growing up. It sounds to me like it is talking about a person that is grown and can't move out of his original home* and he still acts like a child**.
   
   *The song is featured in the play Movin' Out.
   **Acts like a child=watches Sesame Street.

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