SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“The Hamilton Polka” (2016).
Lin-Manuel Miranda has declared his love and respect for “Weird Al” on many occasions. So it makes perfect sense that he would ask Al to contribute to the online Hamilton project known as HamilDrops. The Decemberists’ “Ben Franklin’s Song” is amazing too.
But seriously, how could Al parody a more or less biographical story of a historical figure (that’s two hours long)?. By not parodying it at all.
Rather, he makes one of his polka mashups which he’s been doing hilariously since his second album. They are often a highlight of each new album. This song compresses (almost) the entire musical into 5 minutes.
“The Hamilton Polka,” provides what’s essentially a CliffsNotes-style run-through of the musical’s hooks and highlights — just enough to get the entire musical stuck in your head all over again.
I love the way in the original, the third sister, poor Peggy, is sort of musically dissed whereas Al is just explicit about it. And of course, how could he refuse to include some actual gun shots for “Not Throwing Away My Shot?”
So they cram in
Alexander HamiltonWait For ItThe Schuyler SistersYorktownYou’ll Be BackThe Room Where It HappensGuns and ShipsWashington On Your SideNon-StopHistory Has Its Eyes On YouMy Shot
And Al can really sing and rap some of those lyrics quickly. It’s a really fun mashup.
[READ: January 11, 2018] Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father
Before the musical, most people’s familiarity with Alexander Hamilton probably came from this (awesome) commercial (even if none of us could remember what it was ultimately for).
Actually, my father worked for (and owned for a time) Alexander Hamilton Printing in Paterson, NJ, so Alexander Hamilton has always been a part of my life. Although I had no idea why. Not really.
There’s a new reason why people know about Alexander Hamilton (can you even say his name without singing it?).
And I’m sure that reason has something to do with the creation and publication of this book. But Hennessey is not just jumping on the Hamilton bandwagon. Well, maybe he is, but he has two other historical graphic novels out already: The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation (2008) and The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation (2012). He also has books called The Comic Book Story of Beer, and The Comic Book Story of Video Games so he’s not all stuffy.
The musical is far more catchy than this book–far more steamy. But this book is really chock full of details that the musical skips (for various reasons, obviously). The book is a lot less interested in the romantic dalliances of the founding father, although it certainly does acknowledge them.
Indeed, the book is 176 fully illustrated pages jam-packed with information. It reads a little, if not dull, then certainly more academic. That’s because there’s a lot of text and a lot of history.
This graphic novel starts with his childhood in the West Indies and leads to his death by duel on July 12, 1804. It shows his tenacity for the war effort and his passion for building a new nation, as well as his contradictions and fatal flaws.
But the story is not just about Hamilton himself. He is not “correct.” He is placed in context with other founding fathers, many of whom disagreed vehemently with each other. And there’s a ton of people in the book. For the most part Justin Greenwood does a good job distinguishing them all, but inevitably confusion will set in.
It’s also amazing to realize that Alexander Hamilton’s story cannot be removed from the founding of a new nation. The things he wanted and the things he fought for existed because America was being born as a country. A country that was involved in wars while trying to create national policy, or even trying to decide if it wants to be a country.
Sure they wanted to get away from monarchy, but pure democracy can devolve in mob rule. But some founding fathers wanted a strong centralized power, while other felt hat was just monarchy rewritten.
These “founding fathers” were often at each others’ throats literally. A few changes here or there, a few attitudes changed even slightly and our country could look very different right now.
The book opens up with a lot of historical context (although I think the musical does a better job of giving us Hamilton’s childhood in a nutshell). But it’s the details that really complete the portrait. Hamilton doesn’t even see Princeton until page 45.
He wanted to be a doctor, but events in this new country meant he had to get involved in politics. It was in his nature. It was also in his nature to write.
I love this phrasing:
The spoken word was an incisive and democratic political tool. Like the open-air religious revivals of the great awakening, they were optimal for reaching the masses when many, especially outside New England, were illiterate. The printed word was, on the other hand, more the domain of elites, a domain Hamilton was comfortable treading into himself. He became a firebrand with his letters….
I also enjoyed reading about the contradictions that most colonist felt. They didn’t really want to go to war with England and yet they also didn’t want to give in to their mother country’s demands.
But war became inevitable and Hamilton was an essential part of that, gaining the trust of Washington and others. But his own ambitions meant he couldn’t just be someone else’s lackey.
And then there’s Aaron Burr.
The rest of his life spirals out from there (I’m not going to recount his whole biography).
This book is an excellent companion to the musical. Indeed, anyone who knows the musical back and forth and still wants more about Hamilton should read this graphic novel. As I said, it lacks the sensational attitude (and catchy melodies) of the musical, but it’s well constructed and full of history.
And the drawings are great too.
I Just Read About That... 
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