Screw It, Let's Do It (Richard Branson)

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
You were dyslexic and failing at school
and the headmaster said
you will either end up in prison
or become a millionaire
which is the kind of binary
that only makes sense
if you've met the specific type of brain
that treats the word no
as a misprint
in an otherwise reasonable sentence
You started a student magazine at sixteen
because the existing ones
were not interesting enough
and the existing ones
were not interesting enough
because nobody had asked you yet

[Verse 2]
Virgin Records —
you signed the Sex Pistols
because chaos
has a market value
that order cannot approximate
Then an airline
because the existing ones
treated passengers
like cargo with opinions
Then trains, then mobile phones,
then a space company
because the atmosphere
was a ceiling
you had not yet
been personally offended by

[Chorus]
The balloon nearly killed you
over the Atlantic —
the fuel tanks were leaking
and you were closer to the water
than the altimeter
wanted to admit
The boat nearly killed you
in the Channel —
the hull split
and you swam
in a business suit
The rocket nearly killed you
over New Mexico —
and you came down grinning
because the thing about
almost dying
is that it confirms
you are doing
the most interesting version
of being alive

[Verse 3]
The island — Necker Island —
purchased at twenty-eight
with money
you technically didn't have yet
using a negotiation style
best described as
what if confidence
were a down payment
You rebuilt it after the fire
and rebuilt it after the hurricane
because a private island
is just a very expensive way
to learn
that nature
does not read
the deed

[Outro]
You are still going —
still launching, still ballooning,
still treating the word impossible
as a first draft
that needs editing
The brand is your face
and the face
is always grinning
and the grin
is either the mask
or the man
and at this point
even you
might not know which
but the balloon
is still in the air
and the fuel
is still leaking
and you have never once
looked down