like a sermon on the mountain
says the dumber got dumb
hellfire and brimstone
swapped for oil and guns
when we're pushing up daisies
we all look the same
in the name of the father maybe
but not in my name

on this Jacob's ladder
the only way up is down
one step from disaster
two to make the higher ground
Jacob's ladder

a million lifetimes
left dying in the sun
in the streets down in Whitehall
dogs picking at the bones
nine eleven got branded
nine eleven got sold
there will be no one left to water
all the seeds you've sown

on this Jacob's ladder
the only way up is down
one step from disaster
two to make the higher ground
Jacob's ladder

and they sent him to the wars
to be slain to be slain
and they sent him to the wars
to be slain





Lyrics submitted by midnightdreamer

Jacob's Ladder (Not In My Name) song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song is commentary on social classes.

    This song is saying that it is better to be lower on the system. The higher you are the worse a person you are.

    Am I wrong or right? Someone please explain it to me.

    moby6002on March 16, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It's a commentary on the Iraqi war and Bush's policies.

    "9/11 got branded / 9/11 got sold" "Puppy dog leader, sooner or later / They'll dig up your cellar and try you for murder" "In the name of the father, maybe / But not in my name"

    The only way up ('winning') is down - whether you see it as going back down the ladder (retreating) or going down the actual Jacob's ladder, which goes to Heaven (to win they have to become worse and worse as human beings).

    One of the best protest songs of the administration.

    dragonflyeyeson July 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is waht i heard it was abut. Supposedly it is about some sailors that got capsized during wwII somewhere on the coast of Norway....They managed to get a SOS out...but the english navy decided to ignore it because they were attempting to smuggle out the Norway royalty, and they didn't want ot draw attention...so they let the sailors drown. Definetly a commentary on class

    adam1986on January 07, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    From the text in "Readymades and then some":

    Jacob's Ladder Political expediency verses class; Winston Churchill let 1591 ordinary sailors drown after their ships were sunk off the coast of Norway in WW2 by German battle cruisers. Churchill thought a rescue attempt might have alerted Germans to the evacuation of the Norwegian royal family, so ordered ships in the area to abondon the drowning men. Today's footnote would be the sinking of the Russian Kursk submarine; sailors drowned as President Putin put national pride before the need to call in foreign rescue teams.

    Jacob's Ladder (Not In My Name) Recorded in response to the threat of a Bush/Blair war on Iraq - a war about oil, fear, revenge, and capital - and using Harry Cox's powerful sampled 'and they sent him to the war to be slain' in a context in which it surely belongs.

    The lyrics on this page are for the latter song.

    Pogafon March 17, 2007   Link

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