Alexander Hamilton

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore

And a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot

In the Caribbean by providence impoverished

In squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

The ten-dollar founding father without a father

Got a lot farther by working a lot harder

By being a lot smarter

By being a self-starter

By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter

And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted away

Across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up

Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of

The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter

Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned

Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain

Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain

And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain

Well, the word got around, they said, this kid is insane, man

Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland

Get your education, don't forget from whence you came

And the world is gonna know your name

What's your name, man?

Alexander Hamilton

My name is Alexander Hamilton

And there's a million things I haven't done

But just you wait, just you wait

When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden

Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden

Half-dead sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick

And Alex got better but his mother went quick

Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide

Left him with nothin' but ruined pride, something new inside

A voice saying, "Alex, you gotta fend for yourself"

He started retreatin' and readin' every treatise on the shelf

There would have been nothin' left to do for someone less astute

He woulda been dead or destitute without a cent of restitution

Started workin', clerkin' for his late mother's landlord

Tradin' sugar cane and rum and all the things he can't afford

Scammin' for every book he can get his hands on