Van Halen – Jump
About The Song
“Jump” is a song by American rock band Van Halen. It was released in December 1983 as the lead single of their sixth studio album, 1984. It is Van Halen’s most successful single, reaching number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song differs from earlier Van Halen songs in that it is driven by a keyboard riff, although the song does contain a guitar solo. David Lee Roth dedicated the song to martial artist Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, of whom he was a student.
David Lee Roth has given various accounts of the meaning behind the lyrics, but he usually says they are about a TV news story he saw where a man was about to kill himself by jumping off a building (Roth thought, “Might as well jump”). He’s also said the song is about a stripper. Roth is a great storyteller who likes to build his legend, so he would often add that he wrote the lyric while cruising around Los Angeles in his vintage 1951 Mercury convertible.
In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked “Jump” at number 177 on its updated list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.