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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"Helpless"Love has Something To Do With It"Satisfied"Angelica's Mind"The Story of Tonight (reprise)"A Moment Between Friends"Wait For It"Keep Moving Forward"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
"Stay Alive"
1media/Hamilton-burr-duel.jpg2017-03-31T13:38:32-07:00Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2151875Loved One's Prayerplain2017-04-04T09:05:52-07:00Natalie Meyersa9d906142e0dc902d8e00a7e48ef9f0bc6c832e2Cast: Eliza (Schuyler) Hamilton, Angelica Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, General Lee, Ensemble
Lyrics with Character Names: Total Words: 474, Words Counted Once: 262 Most common Words: "Hamilton" (21 times), "Washington" (16 times), "Lee" (11 times) Lyrics without Character Names: Total Words: 415, Words Counted Once: 256 Most Common Words: "Lee" (5 times), "Sir" (5 times), "Stay" (5 times)
The whole team is back at war! Now that Hamilton is now Washington's assistant they try another attack this time with Laurens, Lafayette, Mulligan and the newly arrived General Lee. They all realize the intense level of fighting and how out armed/out men-ed they are compared to the British. Not to mention they all disagree with General Lee's way of fighting because Hamilton believes he is an incompetent leader. For example when Washington makes the order to "attack" Lee responds with "flee". So Laurens challenges Lee to a duel.
The lyrics to this song are hauntingly beautiful and supply the audience with the sense of tension until the very end. As the fighting escalates, both Angelica and Eliza are in the background repeated "stay alive" almost acting as Alexander's conscious to remind him why he is fighting. There is a lot of conversational type language used (that is why the number count isn't drastically different), but the fact that the top three words are "Hamilton", "Washington" and "Lee" show that three of these men are the ones running this song. Although Hamilton and Washington seem to be on the same side, Lee is being the problem child in calling the faulty orders. Even in the version of the lyrics without the names "Lee" is still up there meaning that he is even a popular conversation topic that is addressed with the name "Sir" because technically Washington and Lee are both above Hamilton.
This song is incredibly action packed and contributes to the high tensions that the audience wants making them want to cheer as Hamilton and the others fight for their right. It is a reason why this show is so popular because it is actors reenacting a famously historical battle but with song and dance.