Pressure by Billy Joel

Album: The Nylon Curtain (1982)

Charted: 20

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Songfacts®:

In this song, Joel talks about a guy who is struggling to cope with the pressures of his life. The song is unusual because it is sung in the second person (Joel referring to the character as "you") and is a rock song with very little guitar. The driving synthesizer implies the near-paranoia the man is feeling. >>
Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
The video for this song was Joel's first concept video. It was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who also made the video for "Allentown." Joel wasn't a fan of music videos and had little interest in making them, so he let Mulcahy have his way with the clip. When Russell had him sink into foam and scream at the sky, Joel went along with it even though he had no idea what was going on.
When Joel sings, "All your life is Channel 13, Sesame Street," he's referring to the New York TV station WNET (channel 13), which is the PBS affiliate that carried the show. Joel later appeared on Sesame Street, singing "Just The Way You Are" with Marlee Matlin in a 1988 episode.
In a 2016 interview with Sirius XM, Joel said he was stuck for a song idea when an acquaintance told him, "Well, you look like you're under a lot of pressure," which sparked his imagination.
For The Nylon Curtain, Joel wanted to experiment with different vocal effects, which accounts for an unusual horn-like exclamation on the track, which was made all the more prominent when he made a fortuitous mistake in the studio.

"On 'Pressure,' the noise that sounds like the horn of a French taxicab - that strange, breathless staccato beep - is actually a tape of me singing every note in my repertoire," he explained in producer Phil Ramone's book Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music. "We recorded me singing the notes, and then loaded the tape into an effects gadget called an Emulator. Then, we overdubbed me hollering, 'PRESH-AR!' with the same inflection that a Royal Air Force captain might use to bark out a command like 'TEN-HUT!'"

But here comes the gaffe: "While the master tape was running, I impulsively hit all the buttons on the tape machine to punch out everything but the section with the yelling. Phil was dumbstruck. 'God! What did you do? You erased part of the song!' Phil was right: for that one segment everything stops dead but my voice, but it was just what the track needed."
In The Office episode "Threat Level Midnight" (2011), this plays in Michael's action movie during a shoot-out sequence between his character and the villain Goldenface.
The tag line is amplified by the sound of the balalaika, a three-string Russian guitar that didn't usually show up in pop hits of the '80s. Ramone tracked down a balalaika band in Brooklyn who agreed to perform on the record, even though were accustomed to playing Russian Orthodox weddings and had no idea who Billy Joel was.
This was also used on the TV shows Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist ("Zoey's Extraordinary Glitch" - 2020), The Boys ("The Big Ride" - 2020), and 9-1-1 ("Under Pressure" - 2018).

Comments: 13

John Gardner from CaliforniaI saw this concept-video on VH1 and/or MTV in 1982/3. There was an original sequence where the camera goes in close on the boy's head-&-shoulders just as the boy scowls and wipes lipstick off his mouth with his forearm. Seems this sequence has been edited out. Why are we censoring/editing The Eighties for future generations? (my birth year is 1963)
Brian from ColoradoI swear as a kid this song had a baseball connotation. Strike 1 strike 2 and bottom of the 8th were in it.
Cd from Chicago IllinoisWilliam Martin is talking about faith versus cosmic truth. Sesame Street programming on the children of gen x marks the spot. Then the martial take over nwo with guns pointed at you. Channel 13 all your life as reference to a significant number regarding the lucky number of the aristocracy. Cosmic rationale like the nasa or Hebrew deception. Psch 1 psch 2...like strike one and 2...now strike 3 is show down.. project bb...on the fairy tale life or reference Peter pan in which you've been lied to about in which u assume is reality...antartica...autec....and welcome to the new world. The truth. The new world. Your faith against cosmic reality. Ref to baseball....sacrifice...as we uselessly eat. Time magazine...most notable the company who owns the zapruder film...what does it all mean wishes for u to think about it all...in your own head.not Google or pbs thoughts..paranoid meaning someone always tells him that. He is frustrated..he needs to share is thoughts....joel
Kevin from BostonEveryone in the early to mid 80s were trying to sound like David Bowie. I had to search to make sure bowie or even Brian Eno had nothing to do with this song. I love Bowie, but damn I'm glad the 80s are over.
Bob from Farmington Hills, MiI remember reading Timothy White's interview with Billy Joel in Musician Magazine when this first came out. Billy related how that for one of the later instrumental bridges in this song they had the idea that some balalaika's (Russian stringed instruments) would be ideal; they figured you could find just about anything in New York City, when they stuck their heads outside the studio onto the street lo and behold a group of old, bearded Russians carrying balalaikas was walking by. They were able to coax them into the studio and these men laid down tracks for a little bit of money and then went on their way.
Tacey from New Milford, NjG.: When you are a recording artist, under a label, it would not be all that uncommon to be in an office with a secretary. Also, many offices have secretaries, and you can write lyrics to a song anywhere. I think your assumption was WAY off. Also, Billy is human...for all we know, he was at the IRS.
Randall from Delaware, OhHey, G, people that write songs write them anywhere that the inspiration hits them, including places where secretaries are.
On a separate note, I don't think it's all that unusual for him to write songs to the second person. He did that a lot. Capiain Jack, Don't Ask Me Why, Big Shot. Those are ones right off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.
Richard from Somerdale , NjI like the thingy that makes that sound for each break. I know it's backed by a violin after the "here you are, two men out and three men on, nowhere to look but inside where we all respond to Pressure" verse, but it sounds really cool alone. I like this song.
Randy from Reading, PaG - I saw the same interveiw as did Ken. That is what Billy said about it.
April from Baltimore, MdI only recently saw the video for this song, (someone told me it was supposed to be "conceptual surrealism") I just thought it left my head spinning..anyone else seen it?
G from Potomac, MdUh... so while he was a recording artist Billy Joel wrote songs in an office with secrataries? I don't think so, nice story though...
Jay from Brooklyn, NyThe lyric "All your life is Channel 13/ Sesame Street, what does it mean?" refers to the New York City PBS station.
The song is unusual not only because it is sung in the second person but also because it ends so abruptly. There is no fade out, just a jarring stop, almost like someone pulled the plug on the recording equipment.
Ken from Louisville, KyBilly says he got the idea from a secretary seeing him struggling to write a song. She said "You seem like you're under a lot of pressure." He replied "Thank You!"

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