"Get your education, don't forget from whence you came, and
(In New York, you can be a new man) just you wait! [1]
(In New York, you can be a new man) just you wait! [2]
A voice saying, "Alex, you gotta fend for yourself"
Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
Alexander Hamilton [1]
Alexander Hamilton! [2]
America forgot him
And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten
And Alex got better, but his mother went quick
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain
And me? I'm the damn fool that shot him
And there's a million things I haven't done
Another immigrant
Away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up
But just you wait!
But just you wait, just you wait
By 14, they placed him in charge of a trading charter
By being a lot smarter, by being a self-starter
Comin' up from the bottom (Just you wait)
For someone less astute
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
Half-dead, sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick
He started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf
He woulda been dead or destitute
His enemies destroyed his rep
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore
In New York! (New York)
In New York, you can be a new man [1]
In New York, you can be a new man [2]
Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of
Just you wait
Left him with nothin' but ruined pride, something new inside
Me? I died for him
Me? I loved him
Me? I trusted him
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
My name is Alexander Hamilton
Oh, Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Plannin' for the future, see him now as he stands (ooh)
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
Scammin' for every book he can get his hands on
See if you can spot him (just you wait)
Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor
Started workin' clerkin' for his late mother's landlord
The bow of a ship headed for a new land
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter
The ship is in the harbor now
The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father
The world will never be the same, oh
The world's gonna know your name, what's your name, man?"
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
There would have been nothin' left to do
There's a million things I haven't done
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
Tradin' sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bedridden
We are waiting in the wings for you (waiting in the wings for you)
We fought with him
Well, the word got around, they said "This kid is insane, man"
What's your name, man?
When America sings for you
When he was ten, his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
Without a cent of restitution
You could never back down
You never learned to take your time!