Hamilton - Lyrics

Alexander Hamilton

The cool beats

[BURR]
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a .. Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten .. Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor ..
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

[LAURENS]
The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father got a lot farther by working a lot harder
By being a lot smarter
By being a self-starter
By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter

[JEFFERSON]
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up.
Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter

[JAMES MADISON]
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain

[BURR]
Well, the word got around, they said "This kid is insane man"
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
"Get your education, don't forget from whence you came, and the world's gonna know your name. What's your name, man?"

[ALEXANDER HAMILTON]
Alexander Hamilton...
My name is Alexander Hamilton
And there's a million things I haven't done
But just you wait, just you wait...

[ELIZA]
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden
Half-dead sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick

[FULL COMPANY EXCEPT HAMILTON (whispering)]
And Alex got better but his mother went quick

[GEORGE WASHINGTON & COMPANY, BOTH]
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
Left him with nothin' but ruined pride, something new inside
A voice saying
"Alex, you gotta fend for yourself."
He started retreating and reading every treatise on the shelf

[BURR & COMPANY, BOTH]
There would have been nothing left to do
For someone less astute
He woulda been dead or destitute
Without a cent of restitution
Started working, clerking, for his late mother's landlord
Trading sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford
Scammin' for every book he can get his hands on
Planning for the future see him now as he stands on (ooh)
The bow of a ship headed for a new land
In New York you can be a new man

[COMPANY & HAMILTON, WOMEN, MEN]
In New York you can be a new man just you wait
In New York you can be a new man just you wait
In New York you can be a new man
In New York, New York
Just you wait.....!!!

[COMPANY]
Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton
We are waiting in the wings for you waiting in the wings for you
You could never back down
You never learned to take your time!
Oh, Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton
When America sings for you
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
The world will never be the same, ohhh

[BURR, MEN, & COMPANY]
The ship is in the harbor now
See if you can spot him
Just you wait
Another immigrant
Coming up from the bottom
Just you wait
His enemies destroyed his rep
America forgot him

[MULLIGAN/MADISON & LAFAYETTE/JEFFERSON]
We fought with him

[LAURENS/PHILIP]
Me? I died for him

[WASHINGTON]
Me? I trusted him

[ELIZA & ANGELICA & PEGGY/MARIA]
Me? I loved him

[BURR]
And me? I'm the dam fool that shot him

[COMPANY]
There's a million things I haven't done
But just you wait!

[BURR]
What's your name, man?

[COMPANY]
Alexander Hamilton!

BAM