Posted on 07/12/2020 3:23:17 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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?
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.
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.
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.
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 is gonna know your name.
"What’s your name, man?”
Alexander Hamilton.
My name is Alexander Hamilton.
And there's a million things I haven't done,
But just you wait, just you wait...
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
And Alex got better, but his mother went quick.
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide.
Left him with nothing 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.
There would have been nothing left to do,
For someone less astute,
He woulda been dead or destitute,
Without a cent of restitution,
Started workin', clerkin' for his late mother's landlord,
Trading sugar cane and rum and all the things he can’t afford.
Scamming for every book he can get his hands on,
Planning for the future see him now as he stands on,
The bow of a ship headed for a new land,
In New York you can be a new man.
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!
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, oh,
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 damn 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!
Should be renamed, “Gay black men in tights who hate whitey and opie”.
Oooh, splendid, can’t wait to see it!
Sarcasm off.
Oooooh - I get to use my new word I learned this morning from an interview on CBS Sunday Morning with their resident mixed race South African late night host who was allowed to spout utter BS while calling it “nuance.” So for your example of the informed response to those who believe this “Hamilton” claptrap is inspired & honest entertainment, I recommend using some variation of “nuance” with your choice of tone & facial expression to communicate fully your disdain.
Those particular lyrics are sung by his rival, Aaron Burr. Burr is kinda angry, and is using his words to trash Hamilton.
Hamilton is an American classic. Anyone who studies the play, and how it came to be, will likely come to see that. I’ve spent a LOT of time with it ... and find it absolutely inspirational.
What is significant politically is that the popularity of the play is probably solely responsible for raising Hamilton’s public persona to the point that Obama’s plan to replace Hamilton with Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill was foiled. People now have more information what great things Hamilton did for the country at an important point in history.
“Anyone who studies the play, and how it came to be, will likely come to see that. I’ve spent a LOT of time with it ... and find it absolutely inspirational.”
My then 14 year old son was not impressed and questioned why a black cast and swear words were in the show. I explained that ANYONE bringing our nation’s founding to the fore and touching on our history and making people look at that history is a winner in my eyes.
Absolutely an amazing show, with some historical warts that people will come to realize when they start their own journey of “fact-checking” what they see as erroneous history.
Oh, and the king is HILARIOUS!
L.M. Miranda has my respect and appreciation.
I suppose they got away with it because of the race blind casting where some black actors play white figures. How could the left bash a play that does that?
At that point in the show, Burr is reflecting back on his interactions with Hamilton. He’s had a lifetime of conflict with the bastard (his words), and is venting.
It really is helpful to know the context of these words.
Not everyone is portrayed as low and disgusting.
I invite you to hold loosely onto your opinions until you’ve personally spent time with this American classic.
There is some evidence that the lyrics may apply to a certain mixed race president.
Gar-bage.
“How could the left bash a play that does that?”
The lefties finally caught up with “Hamilton” since they started criticizing him and the play recently. They want the man and the play to be cancelled.
In addition to Jefferson, the books, magazines and newspaper articles found on the Web name five other U.S. presidents who may have had black ancestry, but never publicly acknowledged it: Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Van Hall, associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, said it is unlikely that most of the men on the list had black ancestry because historians know their genealogy pretty well.
No, I meant one of these guys, malach.
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