"Jacob's Ladder" is a 1986 song, written by Bruce Hornsby
and his brother John Hornsby, that was recorded by Huey Lewis
and the News and became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot
100 in 1987.
Set in Birmingham, Alabama, the song marries the Biblical
image of Jacob's Ladder to someone who rejects proselytizing
evangelists, and is instead struggling to get through life one
day at a time:
The song was given by Hornsby to his friend Lewis, and it
appeared on the group's September 1986 album
Fore!. It was the third single released from the album,
and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week in March
1987.
A music video was filmed, of the band performing the song in
a live concert.
Bruce Hornsby later recorded his own rendition of the song,
characteristically a little less pop, to appear on 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.