"Hurricane" is the 13th song of Act Two of the musical Hamilton, and the 36th song overall.
Hamilton is opposed by Burr, Jefferson, and Madison, who are all more than ready to damage his reputation best they can by lying to the public about his affair, saying instead he stole government funds. He is torn between two choices: to choose to keep the scandal to himself and damage his political reputation with Jefferson's lies, or to inform the public of his scandal himself, saving himself of lies but meanwhile forever cutting his personal reputation, as his wife Eliza Schuyler and son Philip Hamilton do not know about his relationship with Maria Reynolds.
He chooses to publish the scandal, realizes how sticking with the truth has helped him in the past.
Lyrics[]
[HAMILTON]
In the eye of a hurricane, there is quiet
For just a moment
A yellow sky
When I was seventeen, a hurricane destroyed my town
I didn't drown
I couldn't seem to die
I wrote my way out
Wrote everything down far as I could see
I wrote my way out
I looked up and the town had its eyes on me
They passed a plate around
Total strangers
Moved to kindness by my story
Raised enough for me to book a passage
On a ship that was New York bound
I wrote my way out of hell
I wrote my way to revolution
I was louder than the crack in the bell
I wrote Eliza love letters until she fell
I wrote about The Constitution and defended it well
And in the face of ignorance and resistance
I wrote financial systems into existence
And when my prayers to God were met with indifference
I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance
In the eye of a hurricane, there is quiet
For just a moment
A yellow sky
I was twelve when my mother died
She was holding me
She was sick and she was holding me
I couldn't seem to die
[BURR] | [HAMILTON] | [WASHINGTON/ELIZA/MARIA/ANGELICA] |
[HAMILTON]
This is the eye of the hurricane
This is the only way I can protect my legacy
[COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)]
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, wait...
[HAMILTON]
The Reynolds Pamphlet.