Orangefield, Belfast | N.Ireland
Most musicians have a tune they unconsciously turn to if they’re bored waiting for a practice to start. Or maybe they’re a bit nervous and need to auto pilot to reassure themselves they can still play. You know, like something you catch yourself singing in the shower, or humming when you walk the dog?
John Hegarty, Lead Guitarist
We're allowed to have fun, right?
For a while, my ‘unthinking twiddle tune’ was the main riff for this song. It’s combines 9th’s & 7th’s with a walking bass line that puts some of the notes back to front when you climb from E to A. Like a wee tongue twister. The sort of thing that makes you say, “what was that, rewind a second?”
So this song is mainly a bit of cheerful fun. The walking/climbing bass line suits the idea of climbing Jacob’s ladder. That’s the story from Genesis, where Jacob had a vision of a close link between heaven & earth, when he was on the run from his family as he slept on rocks at place he called Bethel. Imagine being on the run, and then discovering that even if your family hate you, God cares. It’s a story that’s been covered a lot in spirituals, and there’s a fairly famous old song about it.
Music for Memory
So Jacob’s ladder because it matched the climbing riff, and from there it was open the bible at Revelation 4/5 to unpack the imagery of perfect worship, cleansing, and purity in the heaven Jacob caught a glimpse of. This is a bible passage that been majestically translated to song by Kari Job and Andrew Peterson recently. My song does not compare! But what it maybe adds to the conversation, is a bit of the sense of excitement and energy from that picture in Revelation. If it helps your kids remember the bible verses and enjoy singing, maybe that’s achievement enough!
The middle 8 bars of the song are about remembering to trust God in your challenges, that if you fall, He’s always waiting to catch you. That’s about it. High energy to communicate excitement, and some call and response to get those bible verses well stuck in your head.
Notes for Musicians
To stop it getting really boring musically, there are lots of ‘hits, runs and hangs’ in Jacob’s Ladder (there’s a nice C9 chord for the hangs).
I’ve always performed this on just an acoustic guitar going round churches or playing outdoors. It was lovely to switch to my strat on a nice crunchy 50’s setting for recording this. A few years after writing this song, I discovered the rockabilly big band music of Brian Setzer (formerly Stray Cats), and we covered a few of their songs in our band. So it was an ambition to add big band brass, backing vocals (for the angels), that crunchy rhythm sound for the riff, and get my friend & favourite lead guitarist John Hegarty in. A bit of John Hegarty lead guitar……..https://youtu.be/vxIp7me4lNo
Rick Swann (all the brass) & John have really hit a groove. My only regret, it’s so full, we didn’t quite get round to adding Ian Hannah on a bit of Hammond, (next time Ian)!
Lyrics: Jacob’s Ladder
© 2019 KDMusic
1. We’re gonna climb up Jacob’s Ladder,
We’re gonna climb up Jacob’s ladder,
Jesus has redeemed us and our chains are shattered,
Jesus has redeemed us and our chains are shattered,
We’re gonna climb up Jacob’s ladder,
So come on up where the saints are gathered to Him, gathered to Him.
2. We’re gonna wear white robes, washed in the blood of the lamb,
White robes washed in the blood of the lamb,
Gonna gaze in awe and wonder in the presence of The Great I Am,
Gonna gaze in awe and wonder in the presence of The Great I Am.
We’re gonna climb up Jacob’s ladder,
so come on up where the saints are gathered to Him, gathered to Him.
Bridge
There’s no way that he is gonna let you fall to ground,
Cos he’ll catch you up in his ever waiting arms.
There’s no way that He is gonna let you fall to ground,
So raise that chin!
Keep lookin’ up not down!
3. Hear the angels sing “worthy is the lamb that once was slain,
Hear the angels sing “worthy is the lamb that once was slain,
To receive power and wealth
And wisdom and strength,
And glory and honour and praise”
I wanna be there! I wanna be amazed!
We’re gonna climb up Jacob’s ladder
So come on up where the saints are gathered to Him, gathered to Him x3
Gathered to Him.
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