Burn and First Burn thoughts

Why isn’t the first written draft of the song Burn not used in the official Hamilton: An American Musical soundtrack? Taking a look at the book Hamilton: A Revolution by Jeremy McCarter and Lin-Manuel Miranda we get the privilege to get a deeper look and understanding in the historical figures personalities and goals and also how it was all written into a musical. In this book we get to see how the beloved song Burn was written and we also get to see how Eliza was written into a musical full of violence, sex, and rap. Lin stated that Eliza was one of the harder historical people to write into the musical, because she was a pure hearted and a very kind and forgiving person. Bringing Eliza back to life and this time on a broadway stage could only have been done by a person who was a lot like Eliza herself. This is where Phillipa Soo came along, being the perfect person to first bring this historical figure back to life.

Eliza is an extremely important person in this story, because she is the one who tells the people's stories for the rest of the world and for future historians to hear, she was an important person to include into the musical.

Burn is the song in which it shows how our dear sweet Elizabeth Hamilton reacted to her husband Alexander Hamilton having an affair with a lady by the name of Miria Reynolds while Eliza, her children and her sister Angelica were all upstate visiting Eliza’s father. In this song Eliza is clearly upset and angrily reacting to her husband, who she loved with all her heart and soul, shattering her heart and breaking their promise to each other. “Let future historians wonder how Eliza reacted when you broke her heart, you’ve torn it all apart.”

Eliza had kept all the love letters Alexander had written to her when they first met, these were her sacred memories “I saved every letter you wrote me.” The love letters were the foundation of the palaces Alexander had built for her, for them to live in. “You built me palaces out of paragraphs, you built cathedrals.” That line is sung softly as if full of pain, regret, and love. The rest of the song erupts into deeper meanings and mixed emotions as it clearly paints a picture of Eliza’s emotions for the one listening to imagine for themselves. She goes on to say that Alexanders sentences in his writing “border on senseless, and you’re paranoid in every paragraph how they perceive you.” As if his writing no longer held such power in her heart like it once did.

Throughout the song ELiza sounds heartbroken and angry but you still get the feeling that Eliza still loves this man and might just possibly have the heart to forgive him later on, which she does in the song It’s Quiet Uptown. You also get the feeling that the same kind, loving, and pure character in her is still there. All the goodness in her never leaves, but gets drowned out in the anger and sadness as she talks about how she no longer wants to be in the narrative of Alexander’s life like she had earlier, hence the line “I’m erasing myself from the narrative.” She no longer wants people to know how she feels and where she stands with Alexander. “Let future historians wonder…”

She wants to watch Alexander burn and to realize what he as done to her “I hope that you burn.” She also goes on to say that “The world has to right to my heart, the world has no place in our bed, they don’t get to know what I said, I’m burning the letters, burning the memories that might have redeemed you. You forfeit the rights to my heart, you forfeit the place in our bed, you’ll sleep in your office instead with only the memories of when you were mine.” This isn’t something that someone who is full of love and passion would normally say, which is why it feels like all the love and forgiveness she does have seems to have been drowned out in the song. This song fit her and kept her personality true to being kind, loving, forgiving, and pure because deep in the words full of hate and loathing, it sounds like she’s still that same person. Loving, caring, and forgiving. It did it’s job of shedding some light on a new side of Eliza, beautifully telling her reaction to Alexander’s wrongs against her and their family, while also keeping the impression that Eliza isn’t done with loving Alexander and being apart of the story just yet.

Burn was the right choice for the soundtrack because of how it shows Eliza. It allowed her to express herself, her anger while also keeping true to her kind personality.  

With the broadway musical becoming more and more popular among all ages it seems logical to provide the growing fanbase with new, fresh content to keep them interested. Almost every month something known as the Hamildrop is released. The Hamildrop is a remix, another draft of a song in the hit musical, or a song which was cut from the soundtrack.

On April 30th, 2018, the official youtube of the Hamilton musical released the beautiful song First Burn, which was the first written draft of Burn. First Burn is sung by five different actresses who all play Eliza across the Hamilton stages. Arianna Afsar, Shoba Narayan, Lexi Lawson, Julia Harriman, and Rachelle Ann Go all brought this song into a beautiful harmony of passion and emotion.

The song First Burn was the first draft the creator of the hit musical had written for the song Burn. In this song you see a more aggressive Eliza addressing the listener about how she felt towards Alexander. We all know Eliza as a pure, kind, and forgiving person who brought something fresh and pure to a story of violence, sex, and now rap. In this version of the song Eliza does start off sounding soft but that changes towards the end when she no longer sounds just heartbroken, but also very angry. It sounds like there is no room left for forgiveness or love, which contradicts the song It’s Quiet Uptown when Eliza softly forgives Alexander “it’s quiet uptown.” It also doesn’t sound like she wants to come back into the narrative like she says she does in the last song Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story. “I put myself back in the narrative. I stop wasting time on tears, I live another fifty years, it’s not enough.”

Without her forgiving Alexander, she might not have ever told Alexander's story or the story of everyone else. The story might have been lost. She starts thinking about what Alexander would do if he hadn’t died in the duel against Aaron Burr. “And I’m still not through I ask myself what would you do if you had more time.” She does what she thought Alexander would do, which she might not have been able to do if she had not forgiven him.

While First Burn is a fantastic song and great for a broadway show, it should not belong in the soundtrack like Burn does. Many people wish it to be the song used for the soundtrack saying it was “the better choice” but they possibly aren’t thinking about the deeper meanings of how each one is sung. First Burn does not artistically match with Eliza’s true character and it doesn’t give the soft forgiveness in It’s Quiet Uptown as honest of a meaning like Burn does. Burn gives us the impression that Eliza isn’t done with Alexander and the narrative, which comes to show in It’s Quiet Uptown and Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.