Songoftheday 3/28/15 - I met a fan dancer down in south side Birmingham, she was running from a fat man selling salvation In his hand...

"Jacob's Ladder" - Huey Lewis & The News
from the album Fore! (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's Song of the Day comes from the pop/rock band Huey Lewis & The News, whose fourth album Fore! (see what they did there?) had churned out a #1 hit with "Stuck With You" and followed it up with the American Psycho fave "Hip To Be Square". Their third single got a little more serious with a song written by Virginian singer/songwriter Bruce Hornsby, who had just topped the pop chart with his own recording of his "The Way It Is". "Jacob's Ladder", named for the path to heaven dreamt by the titular character in the Old Testament, is a subtle dig at those wearing their faith on their sleeve and the fake-ass evangelicals that prey on them...

"Jacob's Ladder" became the second #1 hit from Fore! in March of 1987. The single also crossed over to both the Mainstream Rock (#10) and Adult Contemporary (#17) radio charts in Billboard magazine. Internationally, outside of Canada, where it peaked at #16, the song was only a minor hit, with the subject matter a little removed from the European perspective.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Hornsby himself released his own version of his song on his follow-up album Scenes From The Southside...

And here's Hornsby again going bluegrass with the song at Woodstock '99...

Finally, I'll end with the News' album version...

Up tomorrow: a "hammer" goes large.