"Jacob's Ladder" is a 1986 song written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby and recorded by Huey Lewis and the News. The song spent one week at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1987,[1] 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 | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| 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 | ||||
| ||||
Composition and recording
editSet 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 to his friend Lewis and it appeared on the group's September 1986 album Fore!. The song was originally meant for an album for Hornsby that Lewis was producing.[2] Hornsby did not like the version his band played but suggested that Lewis play it that way for his upcoming album.[2] It was the third single released from the album, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week in March 1987.[1]
Billboard said that it's "insightful" and "wrestles with spiritual issues."[3] Cash Box praised the "soaring chorus" and "powerful arrangement."[4]
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]
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
edit| Chart (1987) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia ARIA Charts | 48 |
| Canadian Singles Charts[5] | 16 |
| German Singles Chart | 65 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 50 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 17 |
| US Billboard Album Rock Tracks | 10 |
| Year-end chart (1987) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[6] | 41 |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b DeKnock, Jan (1987-03-13). "Huey Lewis & News Climb 'Jacob's Ladder' to the Top". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company. Retrieved 2009-02-01.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Question of the Week". Hueylewisandthenews.com. August 25, 2013. Archived from the original on August 31, 2013.
- ^ "Reviews". Billboard. December 27, 1986. p. 81. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
- ^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. January 17, 1987. p. 9. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
- ^ "Top Singles - Volume 45, No. 23, March 14 1987". RPM. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
- ^ "1987 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 99, no. 52. December 26, 1987.