Jacob's Ladder

"Jacob's Ladder" is a song by the Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on their 1980 album Permanent Waves. Composition and recording The song was developed on the band's warm-up tour during soundchecks. "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.