"Jump They Say" is a song by English singer-songwriter
David Bowie from his 18th album Black Tie White Noise (1993). It was written by Bowie, produced by
Nile Rodgers and released as the first single from the album in March 1993 by
Arista Records. While Bowie opted not to tour for the Black Tie White Noise album, the song was performed on his 1995–96
Outside Tour and released as part of the live concert No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95) (2020). The accompanying music video for "Jump They Say" was directed by
Mark Romanek and received
heavy rotation on
MTV Europe.[4]
Background and style
The song dealt with Bowie's feelings for his
schizophrenic half-brother Terry Burns, who had died by suicide on 16 January 1985 when he walked in front of a train at
Coulsdon South railway station, having previously been held in
Cane Hill Hospital.[5][6] Lyrically, the song is loosely based on Burns and Bowie's relationship with and memories of him.[5] Musically, the influence of
Nile Rodgers led to a
funk-based sound, though the track was also influenced by contemporary
jazz, with a solo from
avant-jazz trumpeter
Lester Bowie.
Promotion
Released on 15 March 1993 as the lead-off single,[2] "Jump They Say" received a considerable promotional push from Bowie's new label, Savage Records (though
Arista Records distributed the package in Europe). A striking video was shot by
Mark Romanek, depicting Bowie as a businessman paranoid of his colleagues, who seemingly conduct experiments on him and find him a disturbing influence, forcing him to jump from the roof of the corporate building to his death. The video is heavily influenced by
Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 film Alphaville,
Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971), as well as
Chris Marker's film La Jetée and
Orson Welles' The Trial – both from 1962. The uniformed women shown monitoring Bowie through high powered telescopes are an homage to the stewardesses in the Pan-Am space plane in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The video received
heavy rotation on
MTV Europe,[4] and was praised by Entertainment Weekly after
Bowie died in 2016, saying "Bowie is an excellent actor, and this video may be his best character performance in a music video."[7]
Chart performance
The song, while not Bowie's first release since
Tin Machine, was pushed as a comeback single, and reached No. 9 in the UK charts – Bowie's only top 10 single between 1986's "
Absolute Beginners" and 2013's "
Where Are We Now?".[8]
Critical reception
Upon the release,
Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Peek into Bowie's first
solo album in eons is a kinetic
pop/
funk throwdown. That incomparable voice wafts over a barrage of jangly guitars, wriggling rhythms, and jolting horns. New collaboration with "
Let's Dance" co-producer
Nile Rodgers has the potential to meet with similar top 40 approval, although innovative batch of remixes is already shaping up to be a club favorite here and abroad. A most welcome return."[9] Jon Selzer from Melody Maker complimented the song as "sophisticated, mock-wayward funk, pretending it's balancing precariously over a tightrope when it's really on solid ground." He added that it's "by far the best thing he's done" since "Let's Dance".[10] Alan Jones from Music Week named it Pick of the Week, describing it as "a typical theatrically crooned throwback to his glory days", and adding, "Club-goers will glory in the
Brothers In Rhythm/
Leftfield mixes which drag it on to the dancefloor."[11] Parry Gettelman from Orlando Sentinel felt that
jazz trumpet player
Lester Bowie's brief entrance "enlivens the otherwise pastel "Jump They Say", which recurs as a remix toward the end of the album."[12] A reviewer from Philadelphia Inquirer constated that Bowie "reaffirms his commitment to arty
dance-rock",[13] while Reading Evening Post complimented the song is "surprisingly good".[14]James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update noted "his droning adenoidal vocal".[15]
In an 2017 retrospective review, Quentin Harrison from Albumism noted that "that romantic energy" from Bowie's marriage to
Iman "put a skip in the sonic step of some of the set's darker material", like "Jump They Say". He saw the song lyrically "engage with the personal conflicts that matter to Bowie."[16]Stephen Thomas Erlewine from
AllMusic remarked the "paranoid jumble" of the song, naming it one of the "moments" from the
album, that "are the first in a long time to feel classically Bowie".[17]
The radio edit version has appeared on some editions of the compilations Bowie: The Singles 1969–1993 (1993), Best of Bowie (2002), Nothing Has Changed (2014), and Bowie Legacy (2016). The
Leftfield 12" vocal mix was released on a UK limited release of the single "
Little Wonder" in January 1997. The "JAE-E edit" (called "alternate mix") was released as a bonus track on the CD-version of Black Tie White Noise. On the bonus disc following the 10th anniversary edition of Black Tie White Noise, three remixes of "Jump They Say" appeared: "Rock Mix", "Brothers in Rhythm 12" Remix" and "Dub Oddity".