Lin Manuel Miranda - Alexander Hamilton

[burr]
Bm
 How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a
F#
Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a
           G
Forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence
                   D
Impoverished, in squalor
                Bbdim
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

[laurens]
     Bm
The ten-dollar founding father without a father
       F#
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
            G
By being a lot smarter

By being a self-starter
      D                          Bbdim
By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter

[jefferson]
     Bm
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted
 F#
Away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up
  G
Inside he was longing for something to be a part of
     D                         Bbdim
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter

[madison]
        Bm
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
     F#
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
       G
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
        D                          F#sus4          F#
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain

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

[hamilton]
Bm
Alexander Hamilton
            F#
My name is Alexander Hamilton
              G
And there's a million things I haven't done
              D              F#
But just you wait, just you wait...

[eliza]
            Bm
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
     F#                                                   G
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden half-dead

Sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick

[company]
And Alex got better but his mother went quick

[washington]
Bm
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
F#
Left him with nothin' but ruined pride, something new inside
  G
a voice saying

[washington]
"Alex, you gotta fend for yourself"

[washington]
               D                         Bbdim
He started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf

[burr]
     Bm
There would have been nothing left to do

For someone less astute, he woulda been
F#
Dead or destitute without a sense of restitution
         G
Started workin', clerkin' for his late mother's landlord
D                              Bbdim
Tradin' sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford
Bm
Scammin' for every book he can get his hands on
F#
Plannin' for the future see him now as he stands on
    G
The bow of a ship headed for a new land
   D                Bbdim
In New York you can be a new man

[company]
  Bm
In New York you can

Be a new man   //  Just you wait
   G7
In New York you can
Be a new man    //  Just you wait
   Em9
In New York you can

Be a new man

[women]
   F#
In New York--

[hamilton]
Just you wait!

[company]
Bm
Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
        G7
We are waiting in the wings for you (waiting in the wings for you)
           Em
You could never back down
                                F#
You never learned to take your time
     Bm
Oh, Alexander Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
      G7
When America sings for you
           Em
Will they know what you overcame?
           D                   Em
Will they know you rewrote the game?
     Bm      Em/G    D/A     F#7
The world will never be the same, oh

[burr]
   Bm
The ship is in the harbor now
Bm9
See if you can spot him   //  Just you wait
 Bm
Another immigrant
    Em
Comin' up from the bottom   //  Just you wait
     Em/G
His enemies destroyed his rep
Em
America forgot him

[mulligan/madison & lafayette/jefferson]
F#sus4   F#
We fought with him

[laurens/phillip]
F#sus4      F#
Me? I died for him

[washington]
Bm9       F#
Me? I trusted him

[eliza & angelica & peggy/maria]
Em6       F#
Me? I loved him

[burr]
      F#
And me? I'm the damn fool that shot him

[company]
           Em/G                        D
There's a million things I haven't done
             Em6
But just you wait!

[burr]
F#7
What's your name, man?

[company]
Bm
Alexander Hamilton!
PEOPLE ALSO VIEWED