I don't doubt that the song was inspired by a man about to jumpt to his death, HOWEVER, I think that DLR is saying to the man about to jump, "You think you've got it tough? I've seen the toughest around", gotta roll with the punches to get to what's real, and so on.
Go ahead, jump to your death if you must, but I'm jumping too, into the unknown.
Given that this was the point where Dave left the band to strike out (very successfully, for a time) on his own, I think that, for Dave, the song is about taking the leap of faith to do his own thing.
Instead of standing with his back to the wall of a building on a ledge, Dave has his back against the record machine, full of all his past successes with Van Halen. Go ahead...JUMP!
I don't doubt that the song was inspired by a man about to jumpt to his death, HOWEVER, I think that DLR is saying to the man about to jump, "You think you've got it tough? I've seen the toughest around", gotta roll with the punches to get to what's real, and so on.
Go ahead, jump to your death if you must, but I'm jumping too, into the unknown.
Given that this was the point where Dave left the band to strike out (very successfully, for a time) on his own, I think that, for Dave, the song is about taking the leap of faith to do his own thing.
Instead of standing with his back to the wall of a building on a ledge, Dave has his back against the record machine, full of all his past successes with Van Halen. Go ahead...JUMP!
And, as we all know, he did!