Jump They Say

"Jump They Say" is a song by David Bowie from his album "Black Tie White Noise". It was released as a first single from the album in March 1993. 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).
Background and style.
The song dealt with Bowie's feelings for his schizophrenic half-brother Terry, 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. The lyrics tell of a man pushed to utter desperation by the pressure put on him. Bowie has also cited his own feelings about jumping into the unknown metaphysically. 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.
As the lead-off single, "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 "" (1968). The video 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."
Critical reception.
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 added that lyrically, it "engage with the personal conflicts that matter to Bowie." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic noted "the paranoid jumble" of the song, adding it as one of the "moments" from the album, that "are the first in a long time to feel classically Bowie". 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." Alan Jones from "Music Week" described it as "a typical theatrically crooned throwback to his glory days." He added, "Club-goers will glory in the Brothers In Rhythm/Leftfield mixes which drag it on to the dancefloor." James Hamilton from the magazine's "RM" Dance Update noted "his droning adenoidal vocal". "Reading Evening Post" said the song is "surprisingly good".
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?".
Track listing.
A1. "Jump They Say" (Brothers in Rhythm mix) – 8:24
A2. "Jump They Say" (Leftfield remix) – 7:41
A3. "Jump They Say" (JAE-E remix) – 5:32
B1. "Jump They Say" (Brothers in Rhythm edit) – 3:54
B2. "Jump They Say" (Dub Oddity remix) – 6:13
B3. "Pallas Athena" (Don't Stop Praying remix) – 5:36
Live performances.
Bowie performed the song live on the Arsenio Hall Show in May 1993, and it was performed occasionally on his Outside Tour of 1995–96. A live version of the song was released on the concert album "No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95)" (2020).