JUMBELIAH (ROLL OVER)^©

Live 15 May 1971 version

Spoken intro: Thank you now, thank you very much. We have a special treat for... [chuckles] for youse today. [someone in the band: "The funky gets to do it, yeah!"] Uh... Garry.

Well I got a girl I wanna tell you her name
She lives way down south in New Orleans
Well she's strong like a lion, she's wild like a tiger
And I call my woman Jumbeliah
Jumbeliah, she's my fire

Oh, well she hits you like a hurricane
Well she drives old Dr. Zoom insane
She's a good little woman, she's a hot rock and roller
She's built like Marilyn Monroe and she walks like Smokey Stover*
Jumbeliah, she's my fire

Well she was born and bred down Louisiana
Dressed in blue jeans and a red bandana
She comes on, she loves a man in clover
She loves him so hard, all you can do is
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, over and over

[instrumental]

Jumbeliah, she's my fire
Well she, when she get you, she locks you in her room
She comes on to you, like a big Sonic Boom
Oh when she loves a man, she puts him in clover
She loves him so hard, all you can do is
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
[music stops]
[Bobby Williams unaccompanied:]
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
[Bruce (spoken):] Big Bad Bobby Williams! Southside!
[Southside Johnny joins in:]
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
[Steven Van Zandt joins in:]
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
[Vini Lopez joins in:]
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
[The rest of the gang joins in gradually:]**
(Jumbeliah) Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
[Bobby Williams (spoken):] S'awright!***
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
(Jumbeliah) Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, (hey!) roll over
[music resumes]
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over
Roll over, roll over, roll over, roll over

Page last updated: 17 Jan 2008

Intro

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, JUMBELIAH (ROLL OVER) was written in early 1971 and performed live regularly throughout the year [more details below].

Title

Among Bruce Springsteen fans, this song has long been known under the title JAMBALAYA (IT'S ALL OVER), but Springsteen always noted it as "Jumbeliah" on handwritten setlists. "Jambalaya" is the title of a Hank Williams song (check out JAMBALAYA (ON THE BAYOU)) which was named for a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French creation. It is possible that Springsteen named his composition JUMBELIAH just to give it a different identity to the famous Hank Williams song, or maybe he meant JAMBALAYA but he just spelled it wrong -- spelling mistakes are frequent in Springsteen's early handwritten lyrics sheets. As one can see in the above lyrics, the "it's all over" part doesn't occur anywhere in the song, but there is the "roll over" that repeats over and over. This leads to the conclusion that the first whoever gave this song a title never saw the handwritten setlists and misheard "roll over" as "it's all over". The title mistake appears in the 1985 book Bruce Springsteen: Blinded By The Light by Patrick Humphries and Chris Hunt (page 126). It has "Jambalaya (It's All Over)", and this may be the original source of the incorrect spelling.

Albee Tellone, former member of The Sonic Boom and roadie for The Bruce Springsteen Band, wrote on the subject:

I can tell you for sure that none of us cared how it was spelled. I knew that Hank Williams had a song called "Jambalaya" and I just assumed that it was where Bruce got the inspiration. He knew a little about classic country tunes. My opinion is that he spelled it his way ("Jumbeliah") to avoid confusion with Hank's song and to show that it is a woman's name and not a culinary delight from Louisiana. [...] So it should be called JUMBELIAH (ROLL OVER). [...] Funny thing is that when we started rehearsing this song, most of us thought the name of it was JUNGLE EYES!

Writing Date

When Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom performed JUMBELIAH (ROLL OVER), the line "She drives old Dr. Zoom insane" was used -- Springsteen is Dr. Zoom. Later, when The Bruce Springsteen Band performed the song, that line was altered to "She drives old doctors insane", which doesn't make as much sense as "She drives old Dr. Zoom insane" (what do doctors have to do with this song's topic?). This proves that the song was written for Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom, and then modified to fit a non-Sonic Boom band, and not vice versa.

Springsteen was invited to perform on 27 Mar 1971 (two shows, 7:30 PM and 10:30 PM) at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park, NJ, opening for headliner The Allman Brothers Band and 2nd-billed Cowboy. Steel Mill had broke up, and Springsteen was preparing for his next "serious" project, The Bruce Springsteen Band, which was way from being ready. So Bruce gathered a group of musicians he'd been jamming with at The Upstage at the time, and he had to come up with a name to be used on the show's promotional material and posters. They came up with "Bruce Springsteen And Friendly Enemies", but after the promotional material and posters were printed, the "Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom" was conjured up. It was too late to change the name on what has already been printed, and the group was officially billed as "Bruce Springsteen And Friendly Enemies".

There were newspaper ads placed in the Asbury Park Press promoting the "Allman Brothers Band / Cowboy / Bruce Springsteen And The Friendly Enemies" billing two weeks prior to the show -- earlier ads (which appeared nearly a month before in the Asbury Park Press) do not make any mention of any Springsteen-related band opening for the Allman Brothers. These early ads merely mention "Allman Brothers Band / Cowboy". However, Albee Tellone recalls that the promotional posters were printed one month or more before the show.

Albee Tellone says that they started rehearsing JUMBELIAH in March 1971 for the upcoming 27 Mar 1971 concert at the Sunshine In.

The same line-up (the core players, but not all the rest) of Bruce Springsteen And Friendly Enemies performed again about two months later, twice: 14 May 1971 at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park, NJ, and 15 May 1971 at Newark State College, Union, NJ. On these two gigs, they were officially billed as "Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom". So, the short-lived Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom played a total of 4 live gigs: 27 Mar 1971 (twice, and billed under an outdated name), 14 May 1971, and 15 May 1971.

The above can be winded up in the following:

• JUMBELIAH was written specifically for Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom.
• The "Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom" name came after the posters and the promotional material were printed.
• The promotional material (at least the posters, but not the newspapers ads) were printed a month or more prior to the show (late-Feb 1971 or earlier).
• Albee Tellone says that they started rehearsing JUMBELIAH in March 1971.

All this leads to the conclusion that JUMBELIAH was written in early- or mid-Mar 1971.

Studio Recording

Springsteen wrote numerous songs in 1971, but did not record any material in a professional recording studio during that period. However, studio rehearsal sessions were frequently conducted at the Challenger Eastern Surfboards factory in Highlands, NJ. The primary purpose of the sessions was to prepare for live shows, not to make audio recordings. So only a fraction of this extensive body of rehearsal sessions was ever recorded, and when they were, it is an unfortunate reality that the reel-to-reel tapes made at Challenger Eastern were often erased and reused as part of the recording of live shows. Therefore, it is unknown whether JUMBELIAH was recorded/played during these sessions or not.

Live Performances

JUMBELIAH was only performed with Dr. Zoom And The sonic Boom and The Bruce Springsteen Band. Albee Tellone wrote on the subject:

I'm certain that Steel Mill never performed JUMBELIAH. It was a new song and besides, it wasn't the kind of song Steel Mill would have done. [...] I was a roadie for the E Street Band before they had a name during 1972 and 1973. They never played JUMBELIAH. Bruce was doing his new stuff from Greetings and a few tunes that didn't make it on the album.

JUMBELIAH appeared live on 7 known dates:

• 27 Mar 1971 at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park, NJ
  These were two shows (7:30 PM and 10:30 PM), with Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom (billed as "Bruce Springsteen And Friendly Enemies") opening for headliner The Allman Brothers Band and 2nd-billed Cowboy. Unfortunately, there is no audio recording of either shows in circulation. Albee Tellone recalls that JUMBELIAH was played that night (probably on both early and late show), and "during the 'roll over' part, we tried to get Tinker's dog Woofer to roll over on stage but he couldn't get it right."
   
• 14 May 1971 at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park, NJ
  This was the first of the only two Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom performances. There is no audio recording of this gig in circulation, but JUMBELIAH is one of the 10 songs that appear on a document in Bruce's handwriting that is most probably the song schedule for this Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom debut gig. On that document, the material is clearly identifiable by Bruce's header of "Sonic Tunes". Whether or not Bruce made any late changes to this setlist for the actual performance is not known.
   
• 15 May 1971 at Newark State College, Union, NJ
  This was the second of the only two Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom performances. It was part of "The 1st Annual Ernie The Chicken Festival", an all-day outdoor party extravaganza featuring several local band. A very good quality soundboard tape of most or possibly all of the Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom set has been in circulation since the early 1990's.
   
• 10 Jul 1971 at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
  This was during the outdoor "2nd Annual Nothing's Festival" which was headlined by The Bruce Springsteen Band. This gig is their first known performance. A circulating 66-minute outdoor audience recording of (at best) fair quality represent most or possibly all of Bruce's performance at this show.
   
• 22 or 29 Jul 1971 at D' Scene Club, South Amboy, NJ
  Each of these two Bruce Springsteen Band dates consisted of an early show (9:00 PM) and a late show (11:30 PM). There is no audio recording of any of these gigs in circulation. A 2-show Springsteen handwritten setlist document (that includes JUNBELIAH on the second show setlist) has been recalled with some degree of confidence by one of The Bruce Springsteen Band members as emanating from either the 22nd or the following week's booking at the D' Scene Club.
   
• 23 Jul 1971 at Damrosch Park, New York City, NY
  This Bruce Springsteen Band gig was part of the Guggenheim Memorial Concert Series that took place daily in Damrosch Park during the summer of 1971. An excellent and complete soundboard recording of this show is in circulation among collectors.
   
• 01 Sep 1971 at Garfield Park, Long Branch, NJ
  This was an afternoon outdoor show orchestrated by Tinker West's Blah Productions, headlined by The Bruce Springsteen Band. A 66-minute fair quality audience recording of this show is in very limited circulation. JUMBELIAH was the show closer and featured Tinker West on congas. The song also featured unidentified backing vocalists.

Live 15 May 1971 Version

With Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom, it was drummer Big Bad Bobby Williams who had the cappella (unaccompanied) bass singing solo of "roll over" when the music stops in the last verse [see lyrics above]. He is then joined by Southside Johnny on the second time thru followed by Steven Van Zandt, then Vini Lopez, then Bruce and the rest of the gang.

* Smokey Stover was a popular cartoon character in a strip written and drawn by Bill Holman that ran from 1935-1973. Thanks Josh for the info.

** At this point, The Zoomettes (the band's backing vocalists) join in on Southside's microphone and he moves away - essentially dropping out but continuing to sing. With Albee Tellone on cowbell.

*** Bobby Williams jokes around by hollering "s'awright" which was from an old comedy sketch by Señor Wences on CBS's Ed Sullivan Show. Wences had a little puppet in a box named Pedro and he would ask it if it was all right - then the box's front panel would open a little and the puppet growls "s'awright" in a gruff voice.

The above lyrics correspond to the Dr. Zoom And The Sonic Boom live 15 May 1971 performance at Newark State College, Union, NJ (more details above). Check out The Bruce Springsteen Band live 23 Jul 1971 version. The two versions have some few lyrics variations.

Credits / References

Most of the above info are taken from Brucebase. Thanks Albee Tellone for the priceless help on this page. Thanks Magnus for the lyrics corrections.