My Shot (from The Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording) Lyrics - Lin-manuel Miranda

Hamilton: I am not throwing away my shot! 

I am not throwing away my shot! 

Hey yo, I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

and I'm not throwing away my shot! 

I'm 'a get a scholarship to King's College. 

I prob'ly shouldn't brag, but dag, I amaze 

and astonish. 

The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish. 

I gotta holler just to be heard. 

With every word, I drop knowledge! 

I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece 

of coal 

tryin' to reach my goal. My power of speech: 

unimpeachable. 

Only nineteen but my mind is older. 

These New York City streets get colder, I 

shoulder 

ev'ry burden, ev'ry disadvantage 

I have learned to manage, I don't have a gun 

to brandish 

I walk these streets famished. 

The plan is to fan this spark into a flame. 

But damn, it's getting dark, so let me spell 

out the name, I am the— 

A-l 

-e-x 

-a-n-d 

e-r—we are—meant to be... 

A colony that runs independently. 

Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin' on us endlessly. 

Essentially, they tax us relentlessly 

then King George turns around, runs a spending spree. 

He ain't ever gonna set his descendants free 

so there will be a revolution in this century. 

Enter me! 

(He says in parentheses) 

Don't be shocked when your hist'ry book mentions me. 

I will lay down my life if it sets us free. 

Eventually, you'll see my ascendancy 

And I am not throwing away my shot. (My shot!) 

I am not throwing away my shot. (My shot!) 

Hey yo, I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

and I'm not throwing away my shot. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

Hey yo, I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

and I'm not throwing away my shot. 

It's time to take a shot! 

I dream of life without a monarchy. 

The unrest in France will lead to 'onarchy? 

'Onarchy? How you say, how you say, 'anarchy?' 

When I fight, I make the other side panicky. 

With my- Shot! 

Yo, I'm a tailor's apprentice 

and I got y'all knuckleheads in loco parentis. 

I'm joining the rebellion cuz I know it's my chance 

to socially advance, instead of sewin' some pants! 

I'm gonna take a- shot! 

But we'll never be truly free 

until those in bondage have the same rights 

as you and me 

you and I. Do or die. Wait till I sally in 

on a stallion with the first black battalion 

have another- Shot! 

Geniuses, lower your voices. 

You keep out of trouble and you double your choices. 

I'm with you, but the situation is fraught. 

You've got to be carefully taught: 

If you talk, you're gonna get shot! 

Burr, check what we got. 

Mister Lafayette, hard rock like Lancelot 

I think your pants look hot 

Laurens, I like you a lot. 

Let's hatch a plot blacker than the kettle callin' the pot... 

What are the odds the gods would put us all in one spot 

poppin' a squat on conventional wisdom, like it or not 

a bunch of revolutionary manumission abolitionists? 

Give me a position, show me where the ammunition is! 

Oh, am I talkin' too loud? 

Sometimes I get over excited, shoot off at the mouth. 

I never had a group of friends before 

I promise that I'll make y'all proud. 

Let's get this guy in front of a crowd. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

Hey yo, I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

and I'm not throwing away my shot. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

Hey yo, I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

and I'm not throwing away my shot. 

Ev'rybody sing! 

Whoa, whoa, whoa Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hey! 

Whoa! Whoa! Wooh!! 

Whoa! Whoa! 

Ay, let 'em hear ya! 

Let's go! Yea! 

I said shout it to the rooftops! 

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! 

Said, to the rooftops! Whoa! 

Come on! Whoa! Come on, let's go! Yea! 

Rise up! 

When you're living on your knees 

you rise up. 

Tell your brother that 

he's gotta rise up. 

Tell your sister that 

she's gotta rise up. 

When are these colonies gonnarise up? 

When are these colonies gonna rise up 

Whoa! Whoa! 

When are these colonies gonna rise up 

Whoa! 

When are these colonies gonna rise up? 

Whoa! 

Rise up! Rise up! 

I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory 

When's it gonna get me? 

In my sleep? Seven feet ahead of me? 

If I see it comin', do I run or do I let it be? 

Is it like a beat without a melody? 

See, I never thought I'd live past twenty. 

Where I come from some get half as many. 

Ask anybody why we livin' fast and we 

laugh, reach for a flask 

we have to make this moment last, that's plenty. 

Scratch that 

this is not a moment, it's the movement 

where all the hungriest brothers with 

something to prove went? 

Foes oppose us, we take an honest stand 

we roll like Moses, claimin' our promised land. 

And? If we win our independence? 

'Zat a guarantee of freedom for our descendants? 

Or will the blood we shed begin an endless 

cycle of vengeance and death with no defendants? 

I know the action in the street is excitin' 

but Jesus, between all the bleedin' 'n fightin' 

I've been readin' 'n writin'. 

We need to handle our financial situation. 

Are we a nation of states? 

What's the state of our nation? 

I'm past patiently waitin'. I'm passionately 

smashin' every expectation 

every action's an act of creation! 

I'm laughin' in the face of casualties and sorrow 

for the first time, I'm thinkin' past tomorrow 

And I am not throwing away my shot. 

I am not throwing away my shot. 

Hey yo, I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

and I'm not throwing away my shot. 

We're gonna rise up! 

Time to take a shot! Not throwing away my shot. 

We're gonna rise up! 

Time to take a shot! Not throwing away my shot. 

We're gonna We're gonna rise up! Rise up! 

Time to take a shot! 

Rise up! Rise up! 

Time to take a shot! 

Rise up! Rise up! 

Take a shot! 

Shot! Ri- ri- ri Shot! 

A-yo, it's time to take a shot! Time to take a shot! 

And I am- Not throwin' away my- 

Not throwin' away my shot! 

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