It’s been a while but previously we have looked at songs that use humble ladders as a source of lyrical and thematic inspiration.  A lot of the songs that fitted this criteria were love songs, which used the idea of the climb up a ladder as a metaphor for a struggle in love, or for the journey that a couple takes in order to get together.  However, there are also many songs that use the ladder concept in different ways, some to signify difference, some to signify struggles of a different kind and some that draw very loose parallels between the concept of a ladder and the other themes in the song.

Ladder In My Tights

One such track that uses the idea of a ladder to show the celebration of difference is Amy Studt’s Ladder in my Tights.  The song is aimed at teenage girls, and concentrates on the idea that being different is a good thing, a concept that many hormonal teenagers struggle with: i’d show you, the world is so much better

When you find you don’t fit, there’s a ladder in your tights

And who gives a **** if whoops

You ain’t shiny and perfect, there’s a ladder in my tights”

The ladder in tights phenomenon is something that (usually) only affects women, and finding a ladder in your tights after you have spent a long time getting ready for an important event is like finding you have missed a spot shaving (I’ve been reliably informed!) there’s nothing you can do about it once you’re out, you just have to grin and bear it.  Studt’s lyrics urge her audience not to worry about this kind of superficial detail and to embrace it as part of being different.

Success’s Ladder

Sandi Thom’s track, Success’s Ladder uses the concept of the ladder of success, normally treated as something that it is desirable to climb up, as the basis for the journey of the song’s protagonist, Julian Sidebottom William Smyth.  He starts the story by leaving his job with a note left on his desk because: He wants to do something for his children’s children,

something to remember him by

And nobody wishes they spent more time at work

when they finally lay down to die”

Smyth has decided he wants to move to the Isle of Skye and paint pictures until he dies, as he doesn’t want to commute to a boring job anymore.  The chorus sums this up: “He really needs some help he wants to find himself

And he says that money don’t matter

And there’s more to life than doing what’s right

He’s going down down down Success’s ladder

He’s going down down down Success’s ladder”

The way the chorus, and the idea of going down the ladder of success is presented, makes it seems almost like Smyth has made a mistake in quitting his job and pursuing something more creative, as he is no longer ascending towards success.  The last verse, however, shows us that actually, Smyth has been successful, but not by the same measures as before: So the years went by and Julian was forgot

and one day his tea boy made it to the boss

And to brighten his wall he hung pictures sometimes

one of them the Isle of Skye strangely unsigned.



Honky Tonk Ladder

Honky Tonk Ladder by Afghan Whigs is a song that uses a ladder as a setting for a struggle between two people – the chorus goes: “Up on the ladder they sing

How high?

Does a brother have to climb

To touch the light

Won’t you take me up there with you?

You said you would

No one could ever shake

That ladder, baby like I could”

The lyrics suggest a long journey and a struggle against another person and the ladder here is the setting for it.  The first part of the chorus presents the ascension of the ladder as the ultimate goal and the protagonist of the song is wondering how much further there is to go, while the second part of the chorus asserts dominance over the situation and a desire to go further.

Up On The Ladder

Radiohead’s Up on the Ladder also uses the ladder as a symbol of a fight, or differences between two groups of people, but unlike the Afghan Whigs’ track, there is no determination to succeed in these lyrics.  Instead, the lyrics portray some defiance, but overall acceptance that nothing about the situation will change: “Give me an answer

Give me a line

I’ve been climbing up this ladder

I’ve been wasting my time

Up on the ladder

We’re all tied to a stake

Up on the ladder

We wait for your mistake

Up on the ladder

Try to call out your name

Up on the ladder

Youre all the ****ing same”

It seems like the ladder in this song symbolises striving for acceptance from a person, or group of people, and that the people climbing the metaphorical ladder are at the mercy of the elite, perhaps the people that ‘own’ or constructed the ladder that everyone else is climbing.  The lyrics also suggest that those people on the ladder realise that ascending it is a waste of time, but now they have started, they want to finish, or at least can not or do not want to go back down: they have been trapped on the ladder by the people at the top.

A Black Ladder & One That Belongs to Lowell!

To finish, we’ll look at two very different songs.  The first is a dark love song by Patti Scialfa, titled Black Ladder.  It is a demanding sort of love song, the type that implies the relationship is built on a series of conditions and past fights, resolved through compromises and promises.  The protagonist, first voice in the song, seems to be the needier of the two people involved:

“Little sugar

Take me with you

Tell me I’m the only one

Lift me up to

Your blue heaven

Tell me all my work is done

I’ve been down

Your black ladder

I’ve been down

Your dark stairs

Tell me that our love matters

Tell me that

You care

(verse)

You’ve been down

My black ladder

You’ve been down

My dark stairs

I’ll tell you now

That you matter

Tell you darlin’ That I still care”

The fact that the chorus changes slightly between the verses shows that there is indeed a relationship at play here, but the verses reveal the demand for validation of the love and relationship status.  The last chorus also shows that the song’s protagonist reveals her feelings to the other party, but given the needy voice in the verses, that the feelings are not necessarily reciprocated.  The description of the ladder as ‘black’ implies that the relationship has seen some dark times, and this song is a way of rekindling a flame that has been tested to the limit.  As a love song, it shows hope, but with the restrictions of a murky past.

The last song in this entry is a strange, whimsical song by Planet of Pants, called Lowell’s Ladder.  The ladder in question seems to be a fictional one, one which represents the journey of life towards death: “My frog is some seven years old

He got that way cuz his skin is so cold

Ain’t got no graveyard to rest his fool bones

He’s got a muddy old fishtank,

When he croaks he’s all alone

He’s all seasick, couldn’t get much sadder

Headed out West cuz he’s climbin’ on up Lowell’s ladder

Climbin’ on up Lowell’s ladder

It’s a long way down

I shot my foot and said it didn’t matter

I’m just concerned about climbin’ on up Lowell’s ladder

Climbin’ on up Lowell’s ladder

It’s a long way down”

‘Lowell’s ladder’ represents the journey of life, where the aim is to just keep going and not let trivial (or not so trivial) things get in the way.  The song is meant to be fun, hence the introduction that talks about a frog who is near death.  The mortality of the frog introduces the idea of death as something that is not to be feared, but rather that is to be accepted as a fact of life.  The last short verse, where the lyrics state that even if you get shot in the foot, death is still coming and life needs to be tackled first, consolidates the idea that nothing will stop death: it is still the end of the life journey whatever happens along the way.

Some of the songs we have looked at may be familiar, and some will not, but we hope you have enjoyed discovering some new music to listen to while you work!