The Hamilton Polka

[weird_el]

In anticipation of this great event I downloaded and listened to the OCR of Hamilton all day. It was great fun - like a 2 1/2 hour Schoolhouse Rock. Now Al has managed to brilliantly condense it into 5 minutes.

I first heard about the Hamilton musical 4 years ago when Al saw it off-broadway and raved about it on Twitter. The circle is complete.

[yankochick38]

I REACTED. I'M STILL REACTING.


Youtube


-ALICIA

[Mystik Tomato]

what is hamilton

[weird_el]

what is hamilton

Got $10?

Ah you're Australian. Alexander Hamilton was our first Secretary of the Treasury and he's on the US Ten dollar bill. There's an insanely popular musical about his life and this polka is based on the music from that musical.

[Mystik Tomato]

yes but it's more cloaser to 7.70 american dollars

[Mystik Tomato]

i can't believe weird al did a polka about the songs the first us president sang

[weird_el]

The songs are new. All written by Lin Manuel Miranda, who has been an Al fan most of his life. LLM has Tonys, Grammys, a Pulitzer, a MacArthur Genius Grant for Hamilton, but an Al polka medley may be the greatest accolade of all.

[avesjohn]

Yay! A new Al song - and a polka at that!

Alas, despite its massive popularity, count me among that crowd that hasn't seen Hamilton, or even listened to the songs that are the basis of this polka (unless you count previews on iTunes once or twice). I still enjoy the polka, but unlike his pop song medleys, familiarity with the source material is less readily accessible than usual, which slightly (slightly!) diminishes the appeal.

But it's still a new Al song, so away goes my money...

[stardrop]

Well, I'm a part of the hasn't-seen-Hamilton crowd - But now I think I'll buy Hamilton soundtrack in near future.

[Killingsworth]

Okay, after hearing the song for the first time, I have to say I quite enjoyed it. It's a fun listen and quite a "bop" (as the kids still say, I think). It pretty much grew on me instantly once I got used to the basic idea/concept of it and gave it a listen. I'm also glad I decided to seek out the specific songs he used from the sound track on YouTube r before hearing it because I can see Al really enhanced several of them.

I'd have to say the thing I like most about it right off the bat is how well the songs flow together. The flow here manages to be even better than "NOW Thats' What I Call Polka!" from the previous album (and people like Bermuda and Patton Oswalt touted that as a major selling point before it actually got released). Of course it must help that all of these songs are on the exact same soundtrack, but Al still made it all work very well.

It reminded me a lot of those fan constructed polka medlies of Als' originals (and the "Auto-Polka" one that used a few of the same songs that ended up on "Polka Face") I would see on YouTube since I started becoming a fan. I don't know if it was the production value, the niche audience appeal, the key he sang it in or just the extreme wordiness of the songs but I just got that general vibe from it in a very good way.

I may post more of these random thoughts and stray observations here the more I listen, so...just be warned.