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 take a 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 of 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.