"Jacob's Ladder" is a 1986 song written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby and recorded by Huey Lewis and the News. It became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, the band's third.
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:
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. Hornsby did not like the version his band played but suggested that Lewis play it that way for his upcoming album. It was the third single released from the album, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week in March 1987.
Lyrics:
I met a fan dancer
Down in south side Birmingham
She was running from a fat man selling salvation in his hand
Now he's trying to save me
We'll I'm doing alright the best that I can
Just another fallen angel
Trying to get through the night
Step by step, one by one,
Higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung
Climbing Jacob's ladder
Coming over the airwaves the man says I'm overdue
Sing along, send some money join the chosen few
Well mister I'm not in a hurry and i don't want to be like you
And all I want from tomorrow
Is to get it better than today
Step by step, one by one,
Higher and higher
Step by step, rung by rung
Climbing Jacob's ladder