"Jump" is a song by American rock band Van Halen. It was released in December 1983 as the lead single from their 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 line, 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. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked "Jump" at number 177 on their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Writing and composition The synth line was written circa 1981 by Eddie Van Halen, but it was rejected by the other members of the band. In 1983, producer Ted Templeman asked Roth to listen to the unused song idea. Riding around in the back of his 1951 Mercury, with band roadie Larry Hostler driving, Roth listened repeatedly to the tune. To come up with a lyric for it, he remembered seeing a TV news report the night before about a suicidal jumper. Roth thought that one of the onlookers at such an event would inevitably yell "go ahead and jump". Roth bounced this suggestion off Hostler who agreed it was good; however, instead of describing a potential suicide, the lyrics were written as an ontological invitation to action, life and love. Roth later told Musician magazine that Hostler was "probably the most responsible for how it came out." The song is set in the key of C major, with the guitar solo in the key of B♭ minor. "Jump" has a moderate common time tempo of 129 beats per minute. Ted Templeman recalls that "Jump" was recorded at Eddie Van Halen's newly constructed home studio. "Engineer Donn Landee and Ed put the track down alone in the middle of the night. We recut it once in one take for sonic reasons. Dave wrote the lyrics that afternoon in the backseat of his Mercury convertible. We finished all vocals that afternoon and mixed it that evening." The keyboard part was performed on an Oberheim OB-Xa. Live performances began with Eddie's synthesizer solo "1984". During the reunion tour with Roth, the two songs were used for the band's encore. According to Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, "[Eddie] Van Halen told me that he copied the synth