God I love analysing things

I've come across two different songs about Jacob's Ladder, both the toy and the biblical story. I found some interesting comparisons to be made between them. The first song is a spiritual hymn* called "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder."
It goes thus:

We are climbing Jacob's ladder, we are climbing Jacob's ladder
We are climbing Jacob's ladder, brothers, sisters, all

Every rung goes higher and higher, every rung goes higher and higher
Every rung goes higher and higher, brothers, sisters, all

Every new one makes us stronger, every new one makes us stronger,
Every new one makes us stronger, brothers, sisters, all

We have toiled in dark and danger, we have toiled in dark and danger,
We have toiled in dark and danger, brothers, sisters, all

We are dancing Sarah's circle, we are dancing Sarah's circle
We are dancing Sarah's circle, brothers, sisters, all**

Every round a generation, every round a generation
Every round a generation, brothers, sisters, all

We are climbing Jacob's ladder, we are climbing Jacob's ladder
We are climbing Jacob's ladder, brothers, sisters, all

Another version I found is a bit simpler:

We are climbing Jacob's Ladder x3
We're soldiers of the Cross

We run goes higher and higher x3
We're soldiers of the Cross

The interesting thing to note is how it talks about either the upward or circular journey, never the downward one. "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder" and " every rung goes higher and higher" are the upward references; "we are dancing Sarah's circle" and " every round a generation" are the circular ones.

Now, compare the old spiritual's lyrics to the modern song about Jacob's Ladder, Patrick Wolf's "Jacob's Ladder," with the lyrics being the following:

Jacob
Jacob ladder's falling down
Heaven is out of reach for us now

The golden gates
The closing clouds
Jacob's ladder's fallen down

The modern song talks about going "down" and "falling" in presumably both the physical as well as the spiritual sense. Is this simply a sign of our pessimistic modern lives compared to the optimistic past? Has the prevelance of the toy Jacob's ladder - which certainly seems to cascade down - influenced the lyrics? Or did I just stumble upon two oddly polar songs by coincidence and I'm reading far too much into this?***

All I know for sure is that both songs miss the point of the biblical story:

And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.****
(italics mine)

They went two ways; up and down. I guess I'm puzzling over this: why did the artists***** represent them going only one way and not both?

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Opinions? Other songs about the subject? If you have any of the above, please give them to me!

*It was labeled to as a "Negro Spiritual" but I'm not sure how PC that is
**Does anyone with more biblical knowledge know what this line means?
***Probably.
****Genesis 28:10-22, King James Version
*****By artists I mean lyricists. Most painters seemed to have little issue depicting the angels going both ways.

Insomnia

I've been plagued by moderate amounts of insomnia the past several days and I figured I might as well grab some ideas on what to do while bored and awake. The past two nights I've been awake I watched a movie, did tons of math homework and browsed the internet, along with failed attempts to figure out why the sandman is scorning me. I've had to avoid doing my English homework because I've found I use the larger words from my lexicon when I'm tired. This is great for my writing, although the writers block has stayed with me during this bout of insomnia. I'd also watch the sunrise but the area has too many trees to see a proper one.
What suggestions do other people have?