Tab Realm

Alexander Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda




        Alexander Hamilton 






Tuning: E A D G B E

[Verse 1]
            Bm
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a
F#
Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a
           G
Forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence
                   D
Impoverished, in squalor
                Bbdim
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?
 
[Verse 2]
     Bm
The ten-dollar founding father without a father
       F#
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
            G
By being a lot smarter
 
By being a self-starter
      D                          Bbdim
By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter
 
[verse 3]
     Bm
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted
 F#
Away across the waves, our Hamilton kept his guard up
  G
Inside he was longing for something to be a part of
     D                         Bbdim
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter
 
[Verse 4]
        Bm
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
     F#
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
       G
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
        D                          F#sus4          F#
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain
 
[verse 5]
          Bm
Well the word got around, they said, "This kid is insane, man"
F#
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
G
"Get your education, don't forget from whence you came
          D                      Bbdim
and the world is gonna know your name. What's your name, man?"
 
[Refrain]
Bm
Alexander Hamilton
            F#
His name is Alexander Hamilton
              G
And there's a million things he hasn't done
              D              F#
But just you wait, just you wait...
 
[Verse 6]
            Bm
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
     F#                                                   G
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden half-dead
 
Sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick
N.C.
And Alex got better but his mother went quick
 
[Verse 7]
Bm
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
F#
Left him with nothin' but ruined pride, something new inside
  G
A voice saying "Alex, you gotta fend for yourself"
               D                         Bbdim
He started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf
 
[Verse 8]
     Bm
There would have been nothing left to do
 
For someone less astute, he woulda been
F#
Dead or destitute without a sense of restitution
         G
Started workin', clerkin' for his late mother's landlord
D                              Bbdim
Tradin' sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford
Bm
Scammin' for every book he can get his hands on
F#
Plannin' for the future see him now as he stands on
    G
The bow of a ship headed for a new land
   D                Bbdim
In New York you can be a new man
 
[Bridge]
   Bm
The ship is in the harbor now
Bm/C#
See if you can spot him
 Bm/D
Another immigrant
    Em
Comin' up from the bottom
     Em/G
His enemies destroyed his rep
Em/C#
America forgot him
      Em/C#
And me? I'm the damn fool that shot him
 
[Refrain]
Bm
Alexander Hamilton
        G7
We are waiting in the wings for you
           Em
You could never back down
                               F#
You always had to speak your mind
 
[Refrain]
     Bm
And Alexander Hamilton
           G7
They'll never take your deeds from you.
       Em
In our cowardice and our shame
        D                   Em
We will try to destroy your name
     Bm/F#      Em/G    D/A       F#7/A
The world will never be the same, Alexander...
 
[Outro]
                                         Bm
Yeah, I'm the damn genius that shot him.







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