Pressure

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For the song by Paramore, see Pressure (Paramore song). For the song by Queen, see Under Pressure.

"Pressure"
Single by Billy Joel
from the album The Nylon Curtain
B-side	"Laura"
Released	1982
Format	7"
Recorded	Spring, 1982, A & R Recording and Media Sound Studios, New York, NY
Genre	Rock
Length	4:40 (Album version) 3:13 (Single version)
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Billy Joel
Producer	Phil Ramone
Billy Joel singles chronology
"She's Got a Way" (Live) (1982) "Pressure" (1982) "Allentown" (1982)

"Pressure" is a synthesizer-driven song from 1982 by Billy Joel about difficulty dealing with the stress of daily living. The song was a single from the album The Nylon Curtain.

In Night School, a short, one-time show that aired on MTV in 1982, running roughly a half-hour long, in which he answers questions posed by audience members, Billy Joel reveals that the pressure he was talking about in the song was something along the lines of writing pressure and pressure to provide.

When I was starting out and trying to get things going, the pressure was 'if you don't get things going, they're going to throw you out of this apartment,' that was that kind of pressure. 'I'm hungry,' my stomach was going "pressure, food." So that- I think that's pretty intense pressure... The pressure I was writing about in this song wasn't necessarily music business pressure, it was writing, uh, writing pressure. ... At the time, I was saying, 'Well, I gotta write some more stuff for the album'; I was about halfway through, and I said, "Well, what am I gonna do? I don't have any ideas, it's gone, it's dead, I have nothing, nothing nothing, there's nothing." And then the woman who is my secretary came into the house at that point and said, "Wow, you look like you're under a lot of pressure. I bet you that'd be a good idea for a song." And I went, "Thank you!"

Single and album edits

The single version removes the third verse (starting with "Don't ask for help, you're all alone") and the second bridge. This version of the song was included in the original release of the Greatest Hits I & II compilation album, but the full album version was restored for the remastered edition, as well as the "Complete Hits Collection" in 1997. Radio stations vary in whether they play the shortened or the full version of the song.

Music video

The music video of the song (directed by Russell Mulcahy) features the full version, instead of the shortened one. A common motif in the video is the use of water, whether splashed on Joel's shoes, rushing out from school desks, or flooding his apartment. The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy and the clip made its premiered on MTV on September 9, 1982. Several scenes in the video make references to science fiction movies such as Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist. During a game show parody two-thirds of the way through the video, a bio for Joel briefly flashes on the screen. It reads: "William Joel, Age: 29, Occupation: Computer Software, Interests: fast bikes, cooking, water." Joel was actually 33 when the video was shot.

Other

The song is written in a minor key. In playing the song on a TV special, Joel played the song in a major key, and commented that it sounds like a Polka when played that way.

The song is played during the 2009 NBA Playoffs games and broadcasts for tension effect.

The award winning Patrick Henry Rebel Regiment performed the song as one half of their opener in their 2009 program entitled Peace And Joy Everlasting.

Chart positions