Under Pressure (Repressured Version)

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One two

'My dearest Grandma' was the way he always started the letter

It wasn't the only occasion, he wrote to keep it together

"Thank you for the birthday present, it'll really come in handy

I'm writing quietly, cause I hope you're not angry

Mum and Dad are yelling at each other, like every night

Like every night, I end up locking my door and I write

Would you please be able to visit, and maybe make 'em make up?

I'd hate to think that it was me that made my parents break up

Next year I'll be in high school, I'm pretty nervous, actually

Though I know it's common, I don't want no broken family

It's my fault, and I don't like it here

And it's my fault, and now my little brother's in tears

And Gran, I hope you're not mad, I swear I'll try to be good

Cause Mum and Dad'll get along much better when I'm being good"

Signin' it, 'Love, your Grandson'

Quietly he stored it in the cupboard with the others, and tightly held his brother

He was

Under pressure, I'm heating up

Under pressure, calm, but it's all front

Under pressure, boiling point has come

Under pressure

Under pressure, I'm heating up

Under pressure, calm, but it's all front

Under pressure, boiling point has come

Under pressure

Fast forward twelve years, and he's been out of home for seven

Never really understood the way he carried it all with him

Even years later, he hated things gettin' too heated

Whole section of his history he tried to delete

New school, new city, reason justified his leaving

He couldn't leave his guilt seeing his mother's spirit beaten

She was bleeding, eyes streaming, he had to depart

Frightened sunken-eyed kid became the life of the party

Only been in town a term and social life like a soap star

Still wrote his grandmother the occasional postcard

"Doin' fine, working hard", he thought that she'd be relieved

And perhaps a little proud of all the things he'd achieved

HD's and team captain, a prize in his class

A string of love affairs, but never close enough to see the scars

Kept the cards to his chest, stressed to less and conflict

Between the lines his Grandma only one who heard his bomb tick, he was

Under pressure, I'm heating up

Under pressure, calm, but it's all front

Under pressure, boiling point has come

Under pressure

Under pressure, I'm heating up

Under pressure, calm, but it's all front

Under pressure, boiling point has come

Under pressure

"Child, I miss you greatly, haven't got many letters lately

I just wrote to let you know that it's okay to show when you're—

Under pressure

Though I never really needed to explain this is true

I see a lot of your dear father when I'm looking at you

He worked hard, and enjoyed inebriation

And clearly that's a trait that doesn't skip a generation

Once removed, I see clearer than most, dear boy

I see though your illusions, boy

All life's lessons are under pressure"

Now he's old enough to know better, looking through those old letters

That he's never sent, he's sure the past is omnipresent

He won't resent the sum total of experience

From delirious days, to some so serious

"Never got those letters, but be sure that I'm hearing this"

They're really just signposts, landmarks, clippings

Some repetitive themes, like record players skipping

He has torn off the layers and always found something different

Inside him, tiny sparks like stars colliding

And they let him live again, he's never giving in

And without those few friends that always meant well

It might have never got to "all's well that ends well"

Pen fell, swiftly, why he's writing now is still a mystery

Has the feeling history forgotten tends to repeat

So some nights before sleep, he writes to keep it in his sights

And when it's close enough to touch, he lets fly

Just to get by, by any means, to walk the path of many dreams

The penny seems to fall at the very last moment

The ability to love is like the vast ocean

And with lead-lidded focus, he writes the last lines of this one

And signs off, "With love, your Grandson"