My Shot
HAMILTONI am not throwing away my shot!I am not throwing away my shot!Hey yo, I’m just like my country,I’m young, scrappy and hungry,and I’m not throwing away my shot!I’m ‘a get a scholarship to King’s College.I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish.The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish.I gotta holler just to be heard.With every word, I drop knowledge!I’m a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coaltryin’ to reach my goal. My power of speech: unimpeachable.Only nineteen but my mind is older.These New York City streets get colder, I shoulderev’ry burden, ev’ry disadvantageI have learned to manage, I don’t have a gun to brandish,I walk these streets famished.The plan is to fan this spark into a flame.But damn, it’s getting dark, so let me spell out the name,I am the—
HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENSA-l-e-x-a-n-de-r—we are—meant to be…
HAMILTONA colony that runs independently.Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin’ on us endlessly.Essentially, they tax us relentlessly,then King George turns around, runs a spending spree.He ain’t ever gonna set his descendants free,so there will be a revolution in this century.Enter me!
LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS(He says in parentheses)
HAMILTONDon’t be shocked when your hist’ry book mentions me.I will lay down my life if it sets us free.Eventually, you’ll see my ascendancy,
HAMILTONAnd I am not throwing away my shot.I am not throwing away my shot.Hey yo, I’m just like my country,I’m young, scrappy and hungryand I’m not throwing away my shot.
HAMILTON/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTEI am not throwing away my shot.I am not throwing away my shot.Hey yo, I’m just like my country,I’m young, scrappy and hungryand I’m not throwing away my shot.It’s time to take a shot!
LAFAYETTEI dream of life without a monarchy.The unrest in France will lead to ‘onarchy?‘Onarchy? How you say, how you say, ‘anarchy?’When I fight, I make the other side panicky.With my—
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGANShot!
MULLIGANYo, I’m a tailor’s apprentice,and I got y’all knuckleheads in loco parentis.I’m joining the rebellion cuz I know it’s my chanceto socially advance, instead of sewin’ some pants!I’m gonna take a—
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGANShot!
LAURENSBut we’ll never be truly freeuntil those in bondage have the same rights as you and me,you and I. Do or die. Wait till I sally inon a stallion with the first black battalionhave another—
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGANShot!
BURRGeniuses, lower your voices.You keep out of trouble and you double your choices.I’m with you, but the situation is fraught.You’ve got to be carefully taught:If you talk, you’re gonna get shot!
HAMILTONBurr, check what we got.Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot,I think your pants look hot,Laurens, I like you a lot.Let’s hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin’ the pot...What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot,poppin’ a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not,a bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists?Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is!
Oh, am I talkin’ too loud?Sometimes I get over excited, shoot off at the mouth.I never had a group of friends before,I promise that I’ll make y’all proud.
LAURENSLet’s get this guy in front of a crowd.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/ENSEMBLEI am not throwing away my shot.I am not throwing away my shot.Hey yo, I’m just like my country,I’m young, scrappy and hungryand I’m not throwing away my shot.
I am not throwing away my shot.I am not throwing away my shot.Hey yo, I’m just like my country,I’m young, scrappy and hungryand I’m not throwing away my shot.
LAURENSEv’rybody sing:Whoa, whoa, whoaHey!Whoa!Wooh!!Whoa!Ay, let ‘em hear ya!
Let’s go!
I said shout it to the rooftops!Said, to the rooftops!Come on!
Come on, let’s go!
Rise up!When you’re living on your knees, you rise up.Tell your brother that he’s gotta rise up.Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up.
LAURENS AND ENSEMBLEWhen are these colonies gonna rise up?When are these colonies gonna rise up?When are these colonies gonna rise up?When are these colonies gonna rise up?
Rise up!
HAMILTONI imagine death so much it feels more like a memoryWhen’s it gonna get me?In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me?If I see it comin’, do I run or do I let it be?Is it like a beat without a melody?See, I never thought I’d live past twenty.Where I come from some get half as many.Ask anybody why we livin’ fast and we laugh, reach for a flask,we have to make this moment last, that’s plenty.
Scratch that,this is not a moment, it’s the movementwhere all the hungriest brothers withsomething to prove went?Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand,we roll like Moses, claimin’ our promised land.And? If we win our independence?Is that a guarantee of freedom for our descendants?Or will the blood we shed begin an endlesscycle of vengeance and death with no defendants?I know the action in the street is excitin’,but Jesus, between all the bleedin’ ‘n fightin’I’ve been readin’ ‘n writin’.We need to handle our financial situation.Are we a nation of states? What’s the state of our nation?I’m past patiently waitin’. I’m passionatelysmashin’ every expectation,every action’s an act of creation!I’m laughin’ in the face of casualties and sorrow,for the first time, I’m thinkin’ past tomorrow,
HAMILTON AND COMPANYAnd I am not throwing away my shot.I am not throwing away my shot.Hey yo, I’m just like my country,I’m young, scrappy and hungryand I’m not throwing away my shot.
HAMILTON/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGANWe’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot!We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot!We’re gonna
ENSEMBLERise up!Rise up!
HAMILTONTime to take a shot!
ENSEMBLERise up!Rise up!
HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/LAURENS/MULLIGANTime to take a shot!
Take a shot!Shot!Shot!A-yo it’stime to take a shot!Time to take a shot!And I am—
HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENSNot throwin’ away my—
COMPANYNot throwin’ away my shot!