David Lee Roth is revisiting an old favorite with a new version of Van Halen’s hit song “Jump.” The 69-year-old rock star just dropped a new rendition on YouTube.
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Roth was the lead singer for the band Van Halen before striking out on a solo career. He later reunited to tour with Van Halen up until guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s death. Since then, Roth has returned to recording music on his own.
This new rendition of “Jump” follows the same notes and rhythm as before but features new vocals by Roth. It was recorded in 2022 at Henson Recording Studio in California. Roth also recorded some other Van Halen songs, recording tracks such as “You Really Got Me,” “Dance the Night Away” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” as well.
While Roth didn’t give a reason for recording new takes on the song, Roth may be trying to recapture a few of his glory days. Listener reviews for the new song have been mixed with one listener calling out Roth’s age in his voice. They wrote, “In his prime, Dave was a decent and unique singer, and an incredible frontman. I’m afraid those days have passed us all by.
However, others praised the singer for giving the track his all. They wrote, “As far as a remake goes it’s not horrible. The screaming is an aging voice compensation thing I’m sure. Was sure that it was going to be a serious botch but it surprisingly was not. Whatever makes you happy Dave! You have definitely earned the right to involve yourself in any project you choose.”
As far as “Jump” goes, it was released in 1983 as part of Van Halen’s 1984 album. Roth opened up to Rock Video Magazine about the song.
He said, “‘Jump’ is a song that we wrote for several different reasons, primarily because it is leap year and secondly, because I was watching television one night and it was the five o’clock news and there was a fellow standing on top of the Arco Towers in Los Angeles and he was about to check out early, he was going to do the 33 stories drop – and there was a whole crowd of people in the parking lot downstairs yelling “Don’t jump, don’t jump” and I thought to myself, “Jump.” So, I wrote it down and ultimately it made in onto the record, although in a much more positive vein. It’s easy to translate it the way you hear it on the record as a “go for it” attitude, positive sort of affair – I jog, therefore, I am, approach.”
[Photo by: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS]
