Jacob's Ladder (Huey Lewis and the News song)

For other songs of the same name, see Jacob's Ladder (disambiguation).

"Jacob's Ladder" is a song written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby and recorded by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. The song spent one week at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1987, becoming the band's third and final number-one hit.

"Jacob's Ladder"
Single by Huey Lewis and the News
from the album Fore!
B-side	"The Heart of Rock & Roll" (live)
Released	January 1987
Genre	Rock
Length	3:33
Label	Chrysalis
Songwriter(s)	Bruce Hornsby John Hornsby
Producer(s)	Huey Lewis and the News
Huey Lewis and the News singles chronology
"Hip to Be Square" (1986) "Jacob's Ladder" (1987) "I Know What I Like" (1987)

Writing and recording

Set in Birmingham, Alabama, the song marries the Biblical image of Jacob's Ladder to someone who rejects proselytizing evangelists (first, an obese street preacher, followed by a televangelist claiming to need money or be forced off the airwaves) and is instead struggling to get through life one day at a time:

Step by step, one by one, higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung, climbing Jacob's ladder.

The song was given by Hornsby^{[clarification needed]} to his friend Lewis and it appeared on the group's 1986 album Fore!. The song was originally meant for an album for Hornsby that Lewis was producing.^[1] Hornsby did not like the version his band played but suggested that Lewis play it that way for his upcoming album.^[1] It was the third single released from the album, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week in March 1987.^[2]

Critical reception

Billboard magazine wrote that the song is "insightful" and "wrestles with spiritual issues."^[3] Cash Box praised the "soaring chorus" and "powerful arrangement."^[4]

Music video

A music video was filmed of the band performing the song in a live concert shot at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena on December 31, 1986.^{[citation needed]}

Later versions

Bruce Hornsby later recorded his own rendition of the song for his 1988 album, Scenes from the Southside. It became part of his concert repertoire as well; a live bluegrass-influenced version (very different from the version on Scenes from the Southside) appears on the 2006 album Intersections (1985–2005), which Hornsby performed with his brother John.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1987) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 48 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[6] 16 Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[7] 2 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[8] 50 US Billboard Hot 100[2] 1 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[9] 17 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[10] 10 West Germany (GfK)[11] 65

Year-end charts Chart (1987) Position US Billboard Hot 100[12] 41

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1987