"Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)"
Lyrics with Character Names: Total Words: 661, Words Counted Once: 273
Most common Words: "Hamilton" (21 times), "Lafayette" (15 times), "Company" (8 times)
Lyrics without Character Names: Total Words: 600, Words Counted Once: 270
Most Common Words: "Gotta" (7 times), "Upside" (7 times), "World" (7 times)
The whole battle happens in one song! Everyone comes together to listen and follow through with Hamilton's plan of being silent. After many weeks of fighting, the British wave a white flag and Washington warns the solders that they may have won the war, but fighting for freedom will always continue. There is a shift in the music from rap lyrics to a haunting, passionate balled about celebrating how they all have changed the world.
The lyrics of this song are a combination of being individual to this song, but also repeating character phrases as the boys march into battle. While the second half of the song repeats its essential phrase as because it starts as a soft chant that moves to the power "company" singing "the world turned upside down" to establish their power as a small group of solders to a powerful army all thanks to Hamilton. "Gotta" is similar to got to or have to and everyone involved knows that this was a war that the country needed to win to establish dominance. On a deeper level, this is similar to Hamilton's opportunity to create his legacy; from going to a scrappy little nobody to being a solder to be an assistant to the powerful General Washington. As for "Lafayette" also being one of the most common words, it is because Lafayette works directly with Hamilton. The French control the sea with boats and Hamilton commands the troops on the ground.
This is one of the first moments, since the start, that everyone is onstage as one unit as it is a change for all involved because it is now a free country. It is fascinating that in one whole song the whole famous battle at Yorktown happens. Although there are still a few more songs in act 1, this is a pivotal one for the story. A rap/balled song like this is essential to the musical because it balances both the fast and soft song sounds with words that provide information that progress the story while raising the stakes of the action and in turn providing us with the thinking of Hamilton. The balance of elements in both the lyrics and music means that each person who listens to the song can connect with a different element every time. Much like how people reread a good book in order to understand every little bit, people continue to find popularity and listen to the music from "Hamilton” in order to appreciate all the details.
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