In 2009, the late Eddie Van Halen shared some of his favorite Van Halen songs. “To pick songs I can only go by really what the audience response is,” said Van Halen, “like say ‘Running With The Devil.’” The guitarist went on to name more tracks, everything from “Eruption” and “Spanish Fly,” to “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Loss Of Control,” and “Bullethead”—three songs he said he wrote in the same week.
After sharing a roll call of more Van Halen songs, by the very end of the interview Eddie mentioned one last earlier track that was one of his all-time favorites: “Drop Dead Legs.”
“One of my favorite songs of ours is ‘Drop Dead Legs,’” shared Van Halen. “Whether it’s a hit or not, to me, I love that song.”
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‘1984’
Closing side A on the band’s sixth album 1984, “Drop Dead Legs” was never released as a single since it already contained the band’s bigger hits “Panama,” “Hot For Teacher,” and “Jump,” but remained a favorite of Eddie’s.
A seductive woman with drop-dead legs and vampire moves—the lyrics are pretty straightforward and revolve around an enticing woman driving him crazy.
Drop dead legs, pretty smile,
Hurts my head, gets me wild
Dig that steam, giant butt,
Makes me scream, I get nuh-nuh-nothing but the shakes over you
And nothing else could ever do
You know that you want it, uh
I know what it is
You know that you want it, baby
When the night is through, will I still be loving you?
Dig those moves, vampire
Set me loose, get it higher
Throw my rope, loop-de-loop
Nice white teeth, Betty Boop
Set it cool real heavy
I ain’t fooled, gettin’ ready
The guitar, the fuller arrangement, and the inspiration behind the track came from entirely different places.
AC/DC
A longtime fan of AC/DC, Eddie revealed that “Drop Dead Legs” was inspired by the band’s 1980 classic “Back in Black.”
“That was inspired by AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black,’” said Van Halen in 2014. “I was grooving on that beat. Although I think that ‘Drop Dead Legs’ is slower. Whatever I listen to somehow is filtered through me and comes out differently. So ‘Drop Dead Legs’ is almost a jazz version of ‘Back in Black’. The descending progression is similar. But I put a lot more notes in there.”
[RELATED: A Deeper Look Behind the Story and Meaning of “Back in Black” by AC/DC]
Allan Holdsworth
Along with the crunch of “Back in Black,” some of Van Halen’s guitar twists on “Drop Dead Legs” were also inspired by the late Britsh jazz guitarist Allan Holdsworth (1946-2017). The guitarist, violinist, and composer, who was in the progressive rock supergroup U.K., was also one of Eddie’s favorite guitarists and his influence spilled all over some of the riffs on “Drop Dead Legs,” according to Van Halen.
“That ride-out solo was very much inspired by Allan Holdsworth,” said Van Halen. “I was playing whatever I wanted like jazz. A bunch of wrong notes here and there. But it seemed to work.”
Legacy of “Legs”
1984 was the last album to feature Van Halen’s founding members, Eddie, along with David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony. The band reunited with Roth in 2007 and released their final album with the original lineup, A Different Kind of Truth, in 2012.
When Roth and Van Halen—along with Eddie’s son Wolfgang in place of Anthony—played their last show together at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California on October 4, 2015, “Drop Dead Legs” was on their final setlist.
The band’s 1978 eponymous debut and 1984 remain the band’s best-selling albums.
Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
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