Radio 85, side B, track 10: “Pressure” by Billy Joel

Oh, Billy Joel, has it really been almost 2 years since you’ve been on here?  Cray!  To be honest with you, Billy Joel, I’m not familiar with this one at all but I wish I would have been.  I can totally relate to this one.  Hell, Billy Joel, this could be the soundtrack for the kind of year I’ve been having.  And in case you’re wondering, no I don’t handle pressure real well.  But I’m learning.  Really, Billy Joel, I am.  I have been extremely tempted several times this year to write angry roaring emails to a few people.  But I didn’t.  And I could feel myself getting mad at my wife for a stupid reason, but instead of letting it build until it all boiled over at the wrong moment, I just told her how I felt.  That was a big step.

Frankly, Billy Joel, I’ve been feeling a bit more pressure than normal.  I can feel it in my gut.  That’s where it lives, this constant feeling like one would have right before giving a speech or performing in front of an audience, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  It’s all kinds of things.  My job.  The refugee crisis in Bangladesh.  Giving up on going to the Alamo Drafthouse anymore because of their just-revealed history of tolerance for hatred and misogyny.  It’s all really getting to me, Billy Joel.  But maybe, just MAYBE, I’m going to get through it, maybe even with a little dignity.  Well, dignity might be a strong word, but still, if I keep getting to hear songs like this on the radio, I might just make it.

lyrics to “Pressure”