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Hamming it up: Analyzing the Lyrics of "Hamilton"Main MenuWelcomeHistory Is HappeningWelcome One! Welcome All!"Alexander Hamilton"The Start"Aaron Burr, Sir"Let's meet the gang!"My Shot"Don't Throw it Away"The Story of Tonight"The Calm Before the Storm"The Schuyler Sisters"Here come the Ladies!"Farmer Refuted"Tension Builds with England"You'll Be Back"The King has Arrived"Right Hand Man"General George Washington enters"A Winter's Ball"A Night Out on the Town"Satisfied"Angelica's Mind"The Story of Tonight (reprise)"A Moment Between Friends"Wait For It"Keep Moving Forward"Stay Alive"Loved One's Prayer"Ten Duel Commandments"Gentlemen's Fight"Meet Me Inside"A Change"That Would Be Enough"Reassurance"Guns and Ships"France's Assist"History Has Its Eyes On You"A Warning To Alexander"Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)"Battle Begins and Ends"What Comes Next?"Peace Out from the King"Dear Theodosia"The New Generation"Non-Stop"And We're Back!"What'd I Miss"Welcome Jefferson"Cabinet Battle #1"Hamilton VS Jefferson: Round 1"Take a Break"A Wife's Request To Relax"Say No To This"Another Women"The Room Where It Happens"Conversation Between Delagates"Schuyler Defeated"Tides Start To Turn"Cabinet Battle #2"Hamilton VS Jefferson: Round 2"Washington On Your Side"Toe to Toe"One Last Time"Going Out With A Bang"I Know Him"A Final Message from the King"The Adams Administration"Change in Rulings"We Know"Secrets are Told"Hurricane"A Choice Is Made"The Reynolds Pamphlet"Knowledge For All"Burn"Eliza's Moment Alone"Blow Us All Away"Philip's Challenge"Stay Alive (reprise)"A Family Pulled Apart"It's Quiet Uptown"Taking In The Night"The Election of 1800"The Government Changes"Your Obedient Servant"Alexander and Aaron Talk"Best of Wives and Best of Women"The Girls"The World Was Wide Enough"Who Shot First?"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story"The EndWorks CitedThanks for the Help!Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2
"Helpless"
1media/Hamilton-burr-duel.jpg2017-03-31T13:27:34-07:00Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2151874Love has Something To Do With Itplain2017-04-04T09:01:31-07:00Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2Cast: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Laurens, Eliza Schuyler, Female Ensemble, Angelica Schuyler
Lyrics with Character Names: Total Words: 788, Words Counted Once: 266 Most common Words: "I'm" (32 times), "Helpless" (23 times), "Hey" (21 times) Lyrics without Character Names: Total Words: 739, Words Counted Once: 259 Most Common Words: "I'm" (32 times), "Helpless" (23 times), "Hey" (21 times)
"Helpless" establishes the love story of Eliza and Alexander. Eliza notices Alexander from across the room and tells her sister how she has dibs on him. Like a great wing-women, Angelica approaches Alexander and introduces the two. From there the two instantly fall for each other and spend the next couple months writing letters to each other. Eventually Alexander gets Mr. Schuyler's approval, Alexander proposes and Eliza Schuyler becomes Mrs. Eliza Hamilton.
This song also contains a hefty difference in word counts, but in this case it is because of the repetition used as convincing as the two become fascinated with each other and repeat the same phrases over and over in an attempt to win the hearts and continue promoting the main ideas of the song that support the main topics of the musical.
The most common words happen to be exactly the same. Although this is a longer song with lots of one character singing over another, there are not a lot of people in this song because it is so focused on Alexander, Eliza and even Angelica, even the other characters who are featured singers, only have a line here or there or provide backup to one of the main three. As for the word "I'm" it continues to signify the individual person going after what they want. In this case it is Alexander going after Eliza and vice versa because this is that moment that the "I'm" turns into a "we". The idea of being helpless is another major theme in the musical that can be found in the lyrics. In this case it is the gut feeling in a situation that cannot be changed. However the difference in this song is that the feeling of helplessness is because of true love; so it is more of a cute good thing because no one can help that feeling when they see each other. Finally the word "hey" continues to be used to call the attention to another. Something that Angelica does to Alexander as she supports her sister's dreams and the audience enjoys the happiness that both lovers get to experience.