How does a bastard, orphan,
son of a w e 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?
Ale ander Hamilton
My name is Ale ander 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 Ale
and his mother bed ridden
Half dead sittin in their
own sick, the scent thick
And Ale got better but
his mother went quick
Moved in with a cousin, the
cousin committed suicide
Left him with nothin’ but ruined
pride, something new inside
A voice saying
“Ale , you gotta fend for yourself.
He started retreatin’ and readin’
every treatise on the shelf
There would have been nothin’ 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
Tradin’ sugar cane and rum and
all the things he can’t afford
Scammin’
for every book
he can get his hands on
Plannin’
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
(just you wait!)
Be a new man
In New York you can
(Just you wait!)
Be a new man
In New York you can be a new man
In New York
New York
Just you wait!
Ale ander Hamilton
We are waiting in the wings for you
You could never back down
You never learned to take your time!
Oh, Ale ander 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
Another immigrant
(just you wait!)
Comin’ up from the bottom
His enemies destroyed his rep
(Just you wait!)
America forgot him
We fought with him
Me? I died for him
Me? I trusted him
Me? I loved him
And me? I’m the damn fool that shot him
There’s a million things I haven’t done
But just you wait!
What’s your name, man?
Ale ander Hamilton!
