Lyrics
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, āThis kid is insane, manā
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
āGet your education, donāt forget from whence you came, and
The world is gonna know your name. Whatās your name, man?ā
Alexander Hamilton
My name is Alexander Hamilton
And thereās a million things I havenāt 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 nothinā but ruined pride, something new inside
A voice saying
āYou gotta fend for yourself.āļ¼āAlex, you gotta fend for yourself.āļ¼
He started retreatinā and readinā every treatise on the shelf
There would have been nothinā left to do
For someone less astute
He woulda been dead or destitute
Without a cent of restitution
Started workinā, clerkinā for his late motherās landlord
Tradinā sugar cane and rum and all the things he canāt afford
Scamminā for every book he can get his hands on
Planninā 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 manāĀ Ā ļ¼Just you wait!ļ¼
In New York you can
Be a new manā ļ¼Just you wait!ļ¼
In New York you can be a new manā
In New Yorkā
New Yorkā
Just you wait!
Alexander Hamiltonļ¼Alexander Hamiltonļ¼
We are waiting in the wings for youļ¼Waiting in the wings for youļ¼
You could never back down
You never learned to take your time!
Oh, 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
ļ¼Just you waitļ¼
Another immigrant
Cominā up from the bottom
ļ¼Just you waitļ¼
His enemies destroyed his rep
America forgot him
We fought with him
Me? I died for him
Me? I trusted him
Me? I loved him
And me? Iām the damn fool that shot him
Thereās a million things I havenāt done
But just you wait!
Whatās your name, man?
Alexander Hamilton
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, āThis kid is insane, manā
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
āGet your education, donāt forget from whence you came, and
The world is gonna know your name. Whatās your name, man?ā
Alexander Hamilton
My name is Alexander Hamilton
And thereās a million things I havenāt 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 nothinā but ruined pride, something new inside
A voice saying
āYou gotta fend for yourself.āļ¼āAlex, you gotta fend for yourself.āļ¼
He started retreatinā and readinā every treatise on the shelf
There would have been nothinā left to do
For someone less astute
He woulda been dead or destitute
Without a cent of restitution
Started workinā, clerkinā for his late motherās landlord
Tradinā sugar cane and rum and all the things he canāt afford
Scamminā for every book he can get his hands on
Planninā 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 manāĀ Ā ļ¼Just you wait!ļ¼
In New York you can
Be a new manā ļ¼Just you wait!ļ¼
In New York you can be a new manā
In New Yorkā
New Yorkā
Just you wait!
Alexander Hamiltonļ¼Alexander Hamiltonļ¼
We are waiting in the wings for youļ¼Waiting in the wings for youļ¼
You could never back down
You never learned to take your time!
Oh, 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
ļ¼Just you waitļ¼
Another immigrant
Cominā up from the bottom
ļ¼Just you waitļ¼
His enemies destroyed his rep
America forgot him
We fought with him
Me? I died for him
Me? I trusted him
Me? I loved him
And me? Iām the damn fool that shot him
Thereās a million things I havenāt done
But just you wait!
Whatās your name, man?
Alexander Hamilton