My Shot

My Shot
Song information
Song	3
Act	1
Sung by	Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Okieriete Onaodowan, Leslie Odom, Jr., & Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton
As	Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan & Aaron Burr
Production	Broadway Production
Album	Broadway Cast Recording
Chronology
Previous	Aaron Burr, Sir
Next	The Story of Tonight
Audio
My Shot

"My Shot" is the third song of Act One of the Broadway musical Hamilton. It is the third song of the musical overall.

The main characters' ambitions are further established, particularly Hamilton's. Hamilton's verbal dexterity is also showcased here. This is the first time we learn of his way with words.

Lyrics

[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
Every burden, every 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 gettin' dark so let me spell out my name
I am the

[HAMILTON, LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, & MULLIGAN]
A-L-, E-X-, A-N-D-
E-R, we are, meant to be

[HAMILTON]
A colony that runs independently
Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin' on us endlessly
Essentially, they tax us relentlessly
Then King George turns around and runs a spendin' spree
He ain't never gonna set his descendants free
So there will be a revolution in this century
"Enter me,"

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE & MULLIGAN]
(He says in parentheses)

[HAMILTON]
Don't be shocked when your history book mentions me
I will lay down my life if it sets us free
Eventually, you'll see my ascendancy

[HAMILTON] (LAURENS)
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

[HAMILTON + LAURENS]
And I am not throwing away my shot!

[HAMILTON, LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, & MULLIGAN]
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!

[LAFAYETTE]
I dream of life without the monarchy
The unrest in France will lead to 'onarchy
'Onarchy? How you say? How you...?
Oh, anarchy
When I fight, I make the other side panicky with my--

[LAFAYETTE, HAMILTON, LAURENS, & MULLIGAN]
Shot!

[MULLIGAN]
Yo, I'm a tailor's apprentice
And I got y'all knuckleheads in loco parentis
I'm joinin' the rebellion 'cause I know it's my chance to socially advance
Instead of sewin' some pants

[LAURENS]
But we'll never be truly free
Unless those in bondage have the same rights as you and me
You and I, do or die, wait until I sally in on a stallion,
With the first black battalion
Have another

[LAFAYETTE, HAMILTON, LAURENS, & MULLIGAN]
Shot!

[BURR]
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!

[HAMILTON]
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' in 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 talking too loud?
Sometimes I get overexcited, shoot off at the mouth
I never had a group of friends before,
I promise that I'll make y'all proud.

[LAURENS]
Let's get this guy in front of a crowd!

[LAFAYETTE, HAMILTON, LAURENS, MULLIGAN, & ENSEMBLE]
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 am 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 am not throwing away my shot!

[LAURENS] Ev'rybody sing: Whoa, whoa, whoa Hey! Whoa! Wooh!! Whoa! Ay, let 'em hear ya! Let’s go! I said shout it to the rooftops! Said, to the rooftops! Come on! Come on, let's go!

[HAMILTON, LAFAYETTE & MULLIGAN] Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Yea! [COMPANY] Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Yea!

[LAURENS]
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

[LAURENS & ENSEMBLE] When are these colonies gonna rise up? When are these colonies gonna rise up? When are these colonies gonna rise up? When are these colonies gonna rise up? Rise up!

[COMPANY] Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Rise up!

[HAMILTON]
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 coming, 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, claiming our promised land
And? If we win our independence?
Is that 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

[HAMILTON & COMPANY]
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

[HAMILTON, LAURENS, LAFAYETTE & MULLIGAN] We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot! We’re gonna rise up! Time to take a shot! We’re gonna [HAMILTON] Time to take a shot! [HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/ LAURENS/MULLIGAN] Time to take a shot! Time to take a shot! Take a shot! Shot! Shot! A-yo it’s Time to take a shot! Time to take a shot! And I am— [ENSEMBLE] Not throwing away my shot Not throwing away my shot We’re gonna Rise up! Rise up! Rise up! Rise up! Rise up! Rise up! Ri— ri— ri— Time to take a shot! Time to take a shot! And I am—   [HAMILTON/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN/LAURENS] Not throwin’ away my— [COMPANY] Not throwin’ away my shot! Trivia "My Shot" was the longest song in the musical for Lin-Manuel Miranda to write, spanning a year until the song was at the lyrical state and level it is now. Presumably this is because the song contains the most intricate language and internal rhyming, conveying as much meaning as possible through a single song. The song is one of the songs that were not cut from the Off-Broadway and later productions from the original The Hamilton Mixtape production. Hercules Mulligan's lines from Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) were originally written for this song Gallery Chicago Version of My Shot Songs in Hamilton (Broadway Production) Act One ⇢Alexander Hamilton ⇢Aaron Burr, Sir ⇢My Shot ⇢The Story of Tonight ⇢The Schuyler Sisters ⇢Farmer Refuted ⇢You'll Be Back ⇢Right Hand Man ⇢A Winter's Ball ⇢Helpless ⇢Satisfied ⇢The Story of Tonight (Reprise) ⇢Wait For It ⇢Stay Alive ⇢Ten Duel Commandments ⇢Meet Me Inside ⇢That Would Be Enough ⇢Guns And Ships ⇢History Has Its Eyes On You ⇢Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) ⇢What Comes Next? ⇢Dear Theodosia ⇢Tomorrow There'll Be More Of Us ⇢Non-Stop Act Two ⇢What'd I Miss ⇢Cabinet Battle #1 ⇢Take A Break ⇢Say No To This ⇢The Room Where It Happens ⇢Schuyler Defeated ⇢Cabinet Battle #2 ⇢Washington On Your Side ⇢One Last Time ⇢I Know Him ⇢The Adams Administration ⇢We Know ⇢Hurricane ⇢The Reynolds Pamphlet ⇢Burn ⇢Blow Us All Away ⇢Stay Alive (Reprise) ⇢It's Quiet Uptown ⇢The Election of 1800 ⇢Your Obedient Servant ⇢Best of Wives and Best of Women ⇢The World Was Wide Enough ⇢Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story