Jacob's Ladder (Rush song)

"Jacob's Ladder" is a song by the Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on their 1980 album Permanent Waves.

"Jacob's Ladder"
Song by Rush
from the album Permanent Waves
ReleasedJanuary 14, 1980[1]
Recorded1979
Length7:28
LabelAnthem
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

Composition and recording

The song was developed on the band's warm-up tour during soundchecks.[4][5]

"Jacob's Ladder" uses several time and key signatures, and possesses a dark, ominous feel in its first half. The lyrics are based on a simple concept; a vision of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. The song's title is a reference to the natural phenomenon of the sun breaking through the clouds in visible rays, which in turn was named after the Biblical ladder to heaven on which Jacob saw angels ascending and descending in a vision.

Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said of the song:

Whereas most of the ideas we were dealing with this time were on the lesser side, and in some cases, like in "Jacobs Ladder", looked at as a cinematic idea. We created all the music first to summon up an image – the effect of Jacob's Ladder – and paint the picture, with the lyrics added, just as a sort of little detail, later, to make it more descriptive.[6]

Robert Telleria said in the Rush book Merely Players:

Part heavy metal, part New Age, this song is not about the vision seen by Jacob in the Bible but rather the atmospheric phenomena that has been named after that image. The tympani pounding parts rock like apocalyptic earthquakes. Alex plays like he’s ascending the ladder in the clouds.[7]

Live performances

In early 2015, during Rush's R40 Live Tour, frontman Geddy Lee incorrectly stated that the song had never been played live before, but he was corrected by fans on the internet.[8]

The live albums Exit...Stage Left (1981) and R40 Live (2015) include performances of this song.

Reception

Odyssey rated "Jacob's Ladder" 5/5, writing "It's [sic] repetitiveness and unique sound make it great".[9] They ranked the song number 41 on their ranking of every Rush song.[10]

Ultimate Classic Rock ranked the song number 17 on their list of "All 167 Rush Songs Ranked Worst to Best".[11]

gollark: People just see an error of some sort, and immediately their brain shuts down, even if it specifies what to do about it.
gollark: A useful skill people seem to lack is any ability whatsoever to solve basic problems with computers, but that's hard to teach.
gollark: You can argue about physics being useful and english literature not or whatever, but it's outweighted by how much anyone involved actually cares.
gollark: Generally, things the students in question actually want to learn, instead of whatever random junk they don't.
gollark: So... minarchism?

References
  1. "About Permanent Waves". Rush.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  2. Power Windows: A Tribute to Rush Archived 2012-10-29 at the Wayback Machine Permanent Waves Liner Notes, Accessed October 8, 2012
  3. Original Permanent Waves CD booklet
  4. ""Permanent Waves" linernotes and more from Power Windows: A Tribute To Rush". 2112.net. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  5. ""F.M. Radio Earns Plaudits from Rush" – Music Express, February 1980". 2112.net. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  6. "Jacob's Ladder by Rush". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  7. "Jacob's Ladder". Rushvault.com. 5 February 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  8. "From Rush With Love". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  9. Clouse, Matthew. "Rush: Permanent Waves Album Review". Theodysseyonline.com. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  11. Reed, Ryan. "All 167 Rush Songs Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimate Classic Rock.
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