When I first started listening to Hamilton, long before I saw it on Broadway and before I knew it would become my whole family’s obsession, I was immediately drawn to the simple piano ballad ‘Dear Theodosia.’ It’s a love song from Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to their young children and one of the prettiest songs in the play.
The track reminded me of Ben Folds’ ‘Gracie,’ one of my very favorite songs, and at the time I longed for a Ben Folds cover of ‘Dear Theodosia.’
In addition to covers of original Hamilton tracks and new songs inspired by the play, the Hamilton Mixtape features a couple of songs that were cut from the musical.
One of those is ‘Cabinet Battle 3,’ another political debate reimagined in the form of a rap battle. Numbers one and two, which focus, respectively, on the monetary system and neutrality regarding France’s war with Britain, epitomize Miranda’s incredible feat of telling centuries-old stories in a modern style.
OK, confession time. I’m not a big fan of the Hamilton Mixtape. It has its moments — principally the ones I’m featuring this week — but too much of it falls flat.
I think the problem is that Hamilton is already a hip-hop musical. It doesn’t benefit from “modernized” versions of its songs because it’s modern. An R&B remix of a South Pacific song might sound adventurous, but asking Alicia Keys and John Legend to perform songs that are already slinkily soulful adds very little.
Like yesterday’s selection, today’s Hamilton Mixtape song is a rap inspired by a single line from the musical.
In this case, it’s the beloved line from ‘Yorktown’: “Immigrants, we get the job done.” It’s a throwaway line that became a rallying cry during an election year that saw so much demagoguery against immigrants (and that was before the chief demagogue won).
Back in May, I spent two weeks featuring songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton in advance of my family’s trip to see the celebrated musical on Broadway. That was just as the show was transforming from mega-hit to full-on phenomenon, before the Tony and Pulitzer wins, before the (shudder) future president called it overrated.
Now we have the Hamilton Mixtape, a collection of songs from and inspired by the musical performed by popular artists. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda initially conceived of the project as a mixtape, so in a sense this album is as much a prequel as an accessory. This week I’ll feature five of its songs.
Meet Me In Montauk 