A Winter's Ball

In the song, “A Winter’s Ball” Aaron Burr begins singing about Hamilton’s background, how he got hired, and his skills. Burr then starts discussing that Hamilton and himself are both handsome ladies’ men. Burr continues in saying that looks are more important than power, when it comes to ladies. The song then begins to go into the fact that every man wants to marry a Schuyler sister. Burr then says to Hamilton that if he can marry a Schuyler sister, he will be rich. Hamilton responds to this by saying that for himself, it is not a matter of being able to marry a sister, it is about picking a sister to marry him. This song sets Hamilton up as a bit of a player, which makes a lot of Hamilton’s later actions make more sense and in a way sets up a chain of actions that go along with Hamilton’s character quite well. “A Winter’s Ball” is also a transition song from “Right Hand Man” to “Helpless,” where Hamilton meets his future sister-in-law Angelica, and then his future wife, Eliza.

This song additionally makes yet another link between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton by showing that they were both ladies’ men. This connects Burr and Hamilton in a whole other sense besides their backgrounds, it shows their similarities in terms of personality. I think that this is a very smart move on Miranda’s part because he is trying to make connections between these men in almost every single aspect of their lives and beings. This ultimately makes the inevitable ending of the play make more sense, because of all of the similarities that they see in each other.

Say Yes To This

The song off of the Hamilton Mixtape “Say Yes to This,” is based off of the song from the musical “Say Yes to This.” The remix version is sung by Jill Scott and from the perspective of Maria Reynolds. This song makes Maria seem like she is not trying to use Hamilton for anything, but it does make it seem like Maria actually does like Hamilton. It also portrays Maria as a stronger and more secure woman, who honestly thinks that she is the best thing that could ever happen to a man. This portrayal is a very interesting choice because in “Say No to This,” it made Maria seem like she was very weak, and also just trying to use him to get her husband some more money. What it seems that Maria wants in “say Yes to This” is to sleep with Hamilton, and just to have Hamilton in general as her own man. I like that Miranda made Maria seem a lot “better” in this version because it is told in her perspective so it makes more sense that she would have a different idea of what was going on between her and Hamilton than the idea that Hamilton had. I also really enjoy the confidence that Maria shows in this, because it makes it seem as though Hamilton wants and needs her way more than she could ever need or want him. This is also due to the fact that this song makes Maria seem like she is not about to wait around for Hamilton, she has other people who want her.

The Adams Administration

The song “The Adams Administration” is sung by Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, and has some commentary by James Madison. The song is about Burr, Jefferson, and Madison talking about the fact that Hamilton has destroyed his reputation by getting into a huge fight with John Adams, who is a member of the same political party. The song also goes into the fact that Hamilton abused his cabinet post, and alludes to the fact that Hamilton has done something much worse that they are about to call him out on.

When listening to this song, I immediately assumed that they were going to go into depth about what he did in order to get fired, however they did not do so, at least not in this song. I found it to be an extremely interesting choice that Miranda decided to have the information that was contained in this song and “We Know” in two different songs. I also that that it was very smart for Miranda to have Burr being the main singer in this song opposed to Jefferson or Madison. I think that it really helps reinforce just how much Hamilton and Burr are consistently budding heads, which also helps in foreshadowing the end of the play. Another thing that I wondered when listening to this song for the first time was if what the men knew was about Hamilton’s affair with Maria Reynolds. However, the song that continues “The Adams Administration,” “We Know” does a great job of explaining what they were discussing.

The Reynolds Pamphlet

The song “The Reynolds Pamphlet” Hamilton is discussing in an article, the different reasons why he is innocent, in the accusation that he stole money from the government. The song also goes into the fact that Hamilton published the letters that Mariah Reynolds wrote him during their affair, and admits to having an affair with her. The song begins with people discussing the pamphlet and quickly goes into Hamilton defending himself against the accusation. He then admits that the affair happened and was wrong however, he also discusses some details about the affair like the fact that he had often meet Maria at his own house. The song continues with many others such as Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson chiming in about their opinions on what Hamilton did, and how he destroyed his life.

               Moreover, the part of the song that I found the most interesting was when Angelica entered and told Hamilton that she was not there for him. I was especially intrigued when Angelica started to sing part of what she sang in the song “Satisfied.” The first time I heard this song, I was somewhat confused about this, however the more I listed to the song the more I understood what Miranda was trying to accomplish. Personally, I think that that Miranda must have been trying to show just how much Angelica actually cares about her sister. I think that Miranda additionally wanted to show how hurt Angelica was that he cheated on Eliza with somebody besides herself.

Take A Break

The song “Take A Break” has many different layers to it, which somewhat overlap. It starts with Eliza and Phillip practicing piano and counting in French. It then goes directly into Alexander Hamilton writing a letter to Angelica that reads “My dearest, Angelica” it then goes into problems that he is having with Congress, and later has Hamilton and Angelica singing about how they miss each other. It then goes back to Eliza who is telling Alexander to come down to supper because Phillip has a surprise for him. Philip then begins to rap a poem for his dad about various facts in his life. Alexander then talks about how awesome Phillip is when Eliza starts talking about how she wants Hamilton to go on vacation with her and Phillip, which Hamilton responds as being too busy. This made me wonder if Miranda was trying to show just how overwhelmed and confused Hamilton was by having this song not only go from character to character, but also from topic to topic.

The song then goes to Angelica writing a letter to Hamilton saying that he has to sit down with Congress and work it out, but also that he wrote to her before “My dearest, Angelica” instead of My Dearest Angelica, which changed the meaning inferring that Hamilton still has feelings for her. She also says that Eliza invited her home for the summer to go on vacation, and that she can’t wait to see him. The song then goes to Eliza saying that Angelica had arrived, and the two greet each other. Alexander then welcomes Angelica, except she then finds out that Hamilton is not going on vacation with them. Then Angelica and Eliza sing t Alexander many reasons why he should go with them and take a break, however Hamilton answers with saying that he cannot stop until his plan gets through Congress, which is where the song ends.

Another thing that I thought about when listening carefully to the words of this song is that Eliza and Angelica both kept singing “Take A Break.” I thought that this was interesting and possibly foreshadowing Hamilton’s infidelity, because today when people in a relationship say take a break, it means to go without seeing each other for a while and that braking up was possible. This makes me think that Miranda was trying to foreshadow Hamilton’s affair by the language and the fact that Hamilton would be away from Eliza and Angelica.

Wait For It

The song “Wait For It” is about waiting for the right time to do different things in life. “Wait For It” is sung by Aaron Burr, which I think Miranda thought about quite a bit while writing this song. There are a few reasons that I think this, one being that Burr is somebody who has had to wait for a lot of things, due to him being an orphan. Another being that if Miranda wanted to mention Hamilton in this song, like he did, it would make the most sense for Burr to sing this due to their obvious tension. Nevertheless, the song begins with Burr talking about his situation with Theodosia. He says that he is in love with Theodosia but because of this he is willing to wait for her, and for the right time to go for it. Burr then goes on and discusses his family, what they were like and how they acted, which led to him talking about having a legacy to protect which makes him have to be more careful and wait more to keep from losing that legacy. He then transitions into saying that he is not just being a coward, or lazy or giving up, he is being patient and will ultimately wait for things in order to ensure that everything will go as planned. Burr then starts to talk about Hamilton and how he has nothing to lose because he started from the bottom, but also wonders how and why everything works out for him, and what it’s like to not have to wait for things. The song is concluded by Burr saying that he is still alive and in order to keep everything that he and his parents have worked for is safe, he is willing to wait.

Burn

The song “Burn” is about how Eliza felt and reacted once she heard about Hamilton’s affair with Maria Reynolds. “Burn” begins with Eliza talking about how excited and happy she was when she first met Hamilton and they started writing letters to each other. It continues with Eliza discussing how Angelica warned her about Hamilton from the very beginning saying, “Be careful with that one love, he will do what it takes to survive.” When I heard this line for the first time I immediately thought that a possible reason for Angelica doing this was partially because she wanted Hamilton and she thought that by saying that she may give Eliza doubts about him and ultimately break them up without anyone knowing. However, because Angelica really does care about Eliza, it also may have just been Angelica saying to be careful because she knows that Hamilton has never been satisfied with anyone or anything.

Besides this, the song continues with Eliza saying how amazing the letters that he wrote her were and how meaningful they were to her. She then goes on to say that Hamilton ruined everything that she and him had by both cheating on her and that by publishing the letters that Maria had written him, he ruined their lives. Eliza concludes the song by saying that in Hamilton trying to clear his name he has shown that he cares more about his legacy and how people perceive him more than Eliza. She also says that he “Forfeits the right to her heart, their bed,” and will “…Sleep in your office instead.” Finally she states that she is burning all of the memories and letters that Hamilton wrote to her that could somehow redeem him, and that she hopes that he “Burns.”