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Reply to "Edward Van Halen RIP"

Some trivia about their only #1 song, "Jump," video posted above by me.

Back in 1981 Eddie created a synthesizer segment inspired by the Hall & Oates song, "Kiss on my List." Band received it coolly, but one of the producers with the group wouldn't let it go. Played it in a car for David Lee Roth, and asked him to write some words for it. Roth had recently witnessed a horrible traffic jam caused by a man on a bridge threatening suicide and mused that surely someone there yelled at the man, "Go ahead and jump!" He wanted to do lyrics headed in that direction, but another producer with the band steered it more toward a commentary on the typical male-female courtship. That line from Roth did make it into the final product, but of course with a clearly different context.

Roth directed the video shot in a black box theater. Pretty cool that Eddie got to showcase his keyboard skills. His parents envisioned him as a concert pianist and started him on piano lessons at the age of 5.

There's a great version on YouTube of the band performing it live in Fresno, CA just up the road from us, with Sammy Hagar on vocals.

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