Hi everyone! It's Seth Rudetsky, I'm here deconstructing
a little-known musical! That's so not funny.
Anyway I'm deconstructing Hamilton, The Schuyler Sister
I felt had to be my first one because I'm obsessed with ladies and
belting and harmonies and whatnot.
Now before you even watch this
deconstruction I hope you've heard me on
the radio, you're not allowed to obsess
about Hamilton until you've completely
memorized In the Heights, so stop
watching right now, get the CD or the new
album version of In the Heights, listen
to it, memorize it,
then come back and watch this
deconstruction. I'm gonna wait.
Anywho, the first thing I want you to notice
is the Schuyler Sisters are the off beats.
'there's nothing rich folks love more' so the sassy off beats, which by the way, remind me of
remember we talked about that in Dear Evan Hansen? and before that, in 'The Wizard and I'.
sassy off beats and these are, it's
basically the last sixteenth of sixteenth notes
one, two, three, four, listen to that!
now the other thing I want you to notice is that it would be sort of obvious and repetitive if it happened
at the beginning of every phrase but in the
third phrase he doesn't do it and
instead he does the sassy
syncopation after the word the 'man is
loaded' and that's when the syncopation
comes in again to sort of emphasize 'uh oh
but little does he know' OK, so let's
listen to it, here we go
the other thing I want you to spot is the
amazing rhyme scheme because what Lin
does is that he rhymes how people speak
meaning we had to do call back to Oklahoma
but like let's say in 'I Can't Say No'
she goes up 'I know I mustn't fall to the
pit but when I'm with a feller I for-git'
because people the south they don't
say forget, they say for-git
ask my husband who's from Texas, it drives me
crazy, but the point is pit, for-git, so he
goes 'the man is loaded uh-oh but little does he
know that' is it people don't say little
does he know that they say 'know that'
loaded 'know that' it's such a smart rhyme
same thing with 'daughters Peggy, Angelica, Eliza' 'guys-a'
they don't say 'guys at work' 'guys at work' when you're speaking fast 'guys at work' so 'Eliza' 'guys-a'
'guys-a' 'Eliza' it's so smart, so I want you to hear that rhyme, here we go
so smart, OK, I also want to talk about Leslie Odom, Jr.'s
complete lack of 'R's', so he's basically saying 'there's nothing rich folks love more'
'than going downtown and slumming it with the poor' it's just full out, like
why would i pronounce an 'R' I'm obsessed, listen
so I was like, I know
I've heard that accent before, where have I
heard it? I'm like oh on Long Island
from my own horrific mouth. I'm from Long Island, I didn't pronounce an 'R' until
I went to Oberlin when I was seventeen
years old so basically when I was a
child I was forbidden from pronouncing
'R's' and if you're like 'oh Seth, you're exaggerating'
let me go back for one second, the person I'm obsessed with that does the best 'R's'
in the world, see this person would never
played Aaron Burr, okay so from me I
so for me, I never pronounced an 'R'
until I was 17. this is me at 12 years old
do you hear an 'R'? I do not. The word is poor. Try to find an 'R' this is literally me at 12 years old.
in case you're like, oh Seth, that doesn't sound anything like Leslie Odom, Jr, really?
how about this?
exactly the same
I could've been cast in Hamilton Jr.
do they have that out yet?
anybody Hamilton Jr.?
so the next thing I want to talk about is work 'watch all the guys at work
this is kind of classic Lin Manuel Miranda, where he'll take the same word and sort of change it's meaning
so first she's saying 'to watch all the guys at work'
meaning like they're at their job but then the word
work sort of becomes instead of w-o-r-k
w-e-r-k, which by the way
was first popularized in the 90s for you youngins
basically I'm sure it was before
that, but I first heard it, it came to my
world with supermodel 'werk, cover girl, you better werk'
so first it's you're at work and then it becomes
werk, here we go
by the way, this is a total side note, the brilliant use of
of changing work and werk was by my
friend Tyler Maynard who was in the show
Altar Boyz, so he had this line
where someone shows him something that
they wrote and he supposed to go 'this is
first rate work'
that's the least of it, that was his line,
those were his words, so six months
into the run he's like I'm just gonna change it and instead of going 'this is first rate work' he went 'this is first rate, werk'
so he was like what, I'm saying my line
anyway, he is hilarious and I think
it was also written up for that
so 'And Peggy' poor Peggy, I don't know what Lin has against her, but basically
in the actual music, I don't know if you can see it, but she doesn't even have 'And Peggy'
it's literally a music note with a
line through meaning it's not supposed to be spoken
it's supposed to be 'And Peggy' but I
think Jasmine was like 'can I please just
like add some kind of a melody?' so just 'and Peggy' but it's basically
'and Peggy' she's also forbidden from
vibrato-ing me so
just ''daddy said to be home by sundown'
and the other sisters are like we have amazing vibratos.
I just want you to hear the contrast of 'and Peggy' the no vibrato and
the fierceness of other two sisters
also by the way, sidenote, I just love the use of crescendo
you can hear one amazing crescendo at the end.
love the crescendo
so finally, I think Peggy's had it, and she's like can I please add
some vibrato? Now what happens is it throws
Renée so for a loop that she loses her vibrato
so just spot how Peggy's been totally
straight tone the whole time finally Peggy
adds it and literally Renée, older sister,
she's like wait you just stole my own vibrato
not since Ursula, sea witch,
stole the voice, she literally stole a vibrato
all vibrato until this one moment
also, just note the amazing violins that are added orchestration wise
the orchestration has amazing violins
I don't have any vibrato anymore!
literally, Ursula sea-witch, stole my vibrato
so first it was, 'I'm gonna watch the guys at work'
now it's 'I'm looking for a mind at work'
so that's what Lin does, he takes a word
it's not that it's a double meaning, he changes the context of it
so first like you know guys are at
work than going to work then it's like
my mind is at work and then of course
also werk he does it also in burn it's
like when I met you you know the world
seemed to burn then it's like your love
letters I'm burning them and then it's
finally I hope that you burn
so it all means the same thing all means burning
by fire but it's all different
contextually and you get a lot throughout the show
I'm just saying as a historian that's what I've noticed
that to me is a tip of the hat to Norm Lewis and Julia Murney
so what Julia Murney always does at benefits
so she's fully warmed up to sing, so you know at benefits you have like 10 people before you
then you have to go out an nail it
so Julia will watch in the audience and she'll sound really enthusiastic but she's not necessarily
so enthusiastic, she's warming up, she's like 'woo-hoo'
also Norm Lewis, listen to Porgy and Bess, 'no use complaining' it's totally
Norm warming up for the end of 'I Got Plenty of Nothing'
so I'm told it's because it's Leslie Odom, Jr. just warming up
OK, Julia Murney tip of the hat
so I love the rhythm on 'excuse me miss'
he can go 'someone in a rush next to someone looking pretty'
he could have gone 'excuse me' but it's so sassy to go
'someone looking pretty excuse me miss'
so just spot the syncopation of 'excuse me miss'
obsessed with that! spot
just Lin's amazing internal rhyme
also, by the way, like yet again vernacular 'searchin' instead of 'searching' 'searchin'
because most people don't say 'searching' you don't pronounce the 'G' usually
so it's 'searchin' 'urchin' it's a very very smart rhyme 'searchin' 'urchin' also but it's not a double
meaning, a homonym is 'discussed' and 'disgust'
so it's 'discussed' I've chatted with you, 'd-i-s-c' and disgust, 'd-i-s-g'
now some people do pronounce the 'S' like a 'Z' 'you disgust me'
but you really don't so it's really
pronounced the exact same way but it means two things
yet again Lin,genius also
same thing double meaning Trust Fund I
also same thing double meaning, 'trust fund'
'I have a trust fund' and 'you can trust me'
'you can trust me' 'I have a trust fund'
so it's actually the exact same word double
meaning throughout the show there's so
many double meaning or contextually
double meaning words, thank you
also, oh my god, I just want to play you this, too many things I have to discuss
I just want to play you that one thing you
you know that amazing thing we just heard at the end, let me just play that one more time
it's so good
three sisters singing in harmony
because basically, in the olden days, when three
sisters sang in harmony it actually sounded like this
so I love that he sassed it up, it's like I
know it's like the 1700s but like can I
not make it sound like that?
Thank You Lin! All right where was I?
so all this amazing 'Burr you disgust me'
also I just want you to hear the other really cool thing that happens is, you know I know I still don't
know anything about electronic music, like
even this goes me for loop. How does this
work? I am classically trained! The point
is if you look in the music there's
something called mute and like they pull
out whatever that, I don't know what it's
called, but basically it's like the
band stops playing and actually sounds
like everything is muted, and Lin does
that on important parts, like for
instance, on 'Burr you disgust me, ah so you discuss me'
it says mute and just listen to how the
sound stops there, and the other time
that they do the mute is on 'you want a
revolution, I want a revelation' like both
times when there's important things I
don't know what a mute is, I guess give
me a call in and time what it is but I
love it. Did you remember anything I just said?
I feel like I've given you so much
information but let's just enjoy the
verse and try to listen to anything I
just talked about
this is so smart, yet again the rhyme
'common sense' 'intense'
now common is 'c-o-m-m-o-n'
and intense is 'i-n' but its 'common sense' 'intense'
it actually perfectly rhymes, it's so smart that he's not going to rhyme .com, which I do and I write lyrics
is actually in my own ear
what do I think rhymes? 'common sense' 'intense' so smart, and listen to the mute that's coming up
I'm also just obsessed with the crazy vernacular of 'I'm-a'
'I'm-a' because it went from I'm going to, to I'm gonna, to just I'm-a
I'm just obsessed with that vernacular
and I love that he has her say it 'I'm-a'
I just love it, it's such colloquial /
vernacularisms
here's the first time we hear the 'look around look around' so we hear the melody
and then we hear a beautiful female harmony on top
listen to them and then I'm gonna talk about what a tip of the hat that is to
so I'm like, when did I hear two women singing beautifully in harmony before?
yet again, you can't be obsessed with Hamilton without first memorizing In the Heights
It's In the Heights during the finale
same thing on melody and then female so
this is Janet Decal and then Andrea Burns
there's something so pretty about a delicious two part harmony
next section 'history is happening' so this yet again just really cool lyrics
because it's a combination of
alliteration of the 'H's' and rhyming
'ha-' so it's going 'history'
so obviously history doesn't rhyme with
anything, I mean in this song, but
'history is happening in Manhattan and we just happened' so it's 'hap-' 'hat-' 'hap-'
it's just a really cool rhyme scheme of 'ha' 'ha' 'ha'
I love unison singing on really
quick kind of almost riffs
you know what you should listen to, myths and hymns, 'Saturn Returns'
by Adam Guettel, and it's a whole group of people singing and they do
these really subtle riffs, so 'history is happening in Manhattan and we just happen to be'
it's so quick 'Manhattan and we just happen to be' it's these little
sixteenth note riffs but they're in
perfect unison I just love that because
you know when you're singing chorus
you're supposed to be like 'history is
happening in Manhattan and we just
happen' to be like you're forcing
something so nerdy and this you're like
no we're gonna literally sing it like
you're singing as a solo with sassy riffs but you're all gonna be in unison
all those those little tiny riffs
so now it's like sort of two parts happening at the same time so it's
'cuz I've been reading common sense
by Thomas Paine' combined with
'Look around look around' which I have to say
you know that's from its
basically Irving Berlin was obsessed with that you know, 'I hear singing and there's no one there' which goes with 'you don't need analyzing'
he also did it with 'we'll have an old fashioned wedding'
which went with 'I want a wedding in a big church'
it's the same thing because 'I've been reading common sense by Thomas Paine' goes with
'look around look around' so I want you to
hear that and then also play you where
it's also on Broadway in another song,
here we go
you have to hear this too, the back up, I'm obsessed with
really quick riffs and they go up 'look around look around the revolution's happening'
I keep rewinding, am I hearing that correctly? I love it.
it it's so subtle in the background but
listen I love it so much
here we go
I love that so much, let's play it again
I love it, it's so subtle, anyway the thing I was talking about where both parts go together
Stephen Schwartz is obsessed with that you know he wrote
he's obsessed with that he has that on Broadway right now with two different sections
with 'loathing unadulterated
loathing' which goes with 'what is this feeling'
this, listen
so Lin and Stephen Schwartz are obsessed with what I think Irving Berlin Began back in the day.
then we get into this section, this buildup 'history is happening in Manhattan
this kind of eighth-note base thing
so that pulsing bass is also a Lin signature
yet again, stop watching, memorize In the Heights
he does the same thing in In the Heights, sort of this right at
end of the song when everything starts building towards something, it's the same thing here
obsessed with that show
do not watch this until you memorize In the Heights! Turn it off!
remember I was saying I love the riffs
that they do in unison, well I also love
the very end of the song because they
riff basically as a group, the three
ladies riff as a group, so I first became
obsessed with that I first really heard
during Moulin Rouge, this
however I'm sure its auto-tune, I mean
they're all great singers, but I'm sure
it's auto-tune and I'm also sure it's okay
remember the word for it's a rhythmic
tune where you can like once you record it you look at a digital screen
and you can actually make it
rhythmically perfect
however these ladies are doing it live
on Broadway every night not auto-tune
and it's not rhythmic tune so a much bigger
shout-out to them for their crazy
amazing riff at the end, so I want you to just hear this
but I also want you to hear, first of all how the men
how the 'work' keeps getting faster and
faster so let's focus on that for a second
a great vocal arrangement
the last thing I want you to hear, is this the coolest bass line, which I kind of heard
but I didn't really take it in until I actually looked at the music, when they go 'world
'in the greatest city' they're going like this
instead of just going 'in the greatest city in the world'
it goes like this, it's so crazy because it's literally
oh my god,
so you have to listen to the amazing
bass line then you have to listen to
also their of course amazing riffs
one more time
I'm exhausted therefore we're gonna take a nap, goodnight.
