Hair Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Hair" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review: the lyric engine inside “Hair”

How do you write a musical where the plot feels like a crowd, and the crowd feels like the plot? “Hair” answers by treating lyrics as public speech: slogans, prayers, dirty jokes, confessionals, and sudden poetry. That collage approach can seem loose until you notice how often the words behave like a drumline, pushing the tribe forward even when the story refuses tidy steps. The show is about a draft decision, yes, but the writing keeps widening the frame: it insists that politics lives in bodies, in hair, in sex, in race, in who gets called “American” and who gets punished for wanting the same freedoms.

Musically, MacDermot’s score fuses radio-ready hooks with chant and ritual. The lyric language swings from cosmic forecasting (“Aquarius”) to plainspoken crisis (“Where Do I Go”), from erotic brag to moral accounting. The style is the point. Rock, gospel, and group chant are not decoration here; they are character. The tribe sings like a single organism until it doesn’t, and that fracture is the drama.

If you are listening for story, a practical tip: follow Claude’s questions. He keeps asking for direction, permission, a sign. The lyrics let him hide inside spectacle, then corner him in quieter lines where the language suddenly turns human, specific, scared.

How it was made

“Hair” begins downtown, not uptown. Ragni and Rado shaped the book and lyrics from the world they were walking through: protests, street talk, and the crackle of generational revolt. The show premiered at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater in 1967, and it nearly came apart on the way there. That instability is not a footnote; it is a creative method. A Public Theater anniversary account quotes costume designer Theoni Aldredge remembering the cast arriving “with flowers,” which captures the production’s early mix of earnestness and chaos.

On Broadway, producer Michael Butler took the risk and the show found its mass audience, opening April 29, 1968. That transfer changes how the lyrics land. Lines that read like private rebellion downtown become national argument uptown. The writing also carries a deliberate friction: the tribe mocks American ritual while borrowing its forms, turning anthem into protest song and prayer into chant.

On the page, the authors even leave alternate staging notes inside the libretto. That is a clue to how “Hair” was built: not as a fixed museum piece, but as a score that expects bodies, rooms, and audiences to complete it.

Key tracks & scenes

"Aquarius" (Ronny and Tribe)

The Scene:

A small act becomes a ceremony. Berger cuts a lock of Claude’s hair. The tribe freezes mid-motion. The hair is placed into flame, and the stage shifts into slow motion as the first voice starts the prophecy.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyrics sell a future tense the characters badly want to believe in. Astrology becomes politics. “Harmony” and “understanding” sound like a promise, but the show keeps testing whether belief can survive the draft board.

"Hair" (Claude, Berger, Tribe)

The Scene:

A comic argument about long hair turns into a mass chant. Lists pile up: textures, lengths, fantasies. The song plays like a street demonstration disguised as a novelty hit, with the tribe turning description into defiance.

Lyrical Meaning:

Hair is a literal object and a public signal. The lyrics treat it as identity made visible, a choice that parents, police, and the military read as provocation.

"I Got Life" (Claude with Tribe)

The Scene:

A body inventory becomes a shout. Claude names parts, then turns the list outward. The libretto drops in a staging jolt: Berger can leap from a tower, or enter with “war whoops” and get caught by the tribe.

Lyrical Meaning:

It is a manifesto built from anatomy. The lyric insists the self is enough, then admits pain in the same breath. Freedom is sung as something physical, not abstract.

"Easy to Be Hard" (Sheila)

The Scene:

After a petty act of destruction, Sheila sings “almost in tears,” backed by an acoustic guitar onstage. The show briefly drops its crowd voice and lets one person speak plainly.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric exposes a core contradiction: caring about strangers is easier than caring well for the people beside you. “Hair” keeps returning to that gap between ideology and intimacy.

"Three-Five-Zero-Zero" (Tribe)

The Scene:

The language turns into shrapnel. The tribe lists the mechanics of violence while two characters survey the wreckage from above, as if distance could make it bearable.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is reportage, not metaphor. It refuses poetic cover. In a show full of jokes and cosmic talk, this is the line-break where the war stops being an idea.

"Where Do I Go" (Claude)

The Scene:

At the Be-In, draft cards burn one by one. Claude puts his into the fire, then pulls it back out. The song begins as a question asked in the smoke of a decision he cannot finish.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is structured as searching: follow this, follow that, follow the neon, follow the wind. It is a man trying to outsource certainty to the city.

"Good Morning, Starshine" (Sheila and Tribe)

The Scene:

“Look at the moon,” the tribe repeats, and the number floats in on a vamp. It plays like communal lullaby and communal denial, sweetness pressed against dread.

Lyrical Meaning:

Nonsense syllables become a shelter. The lyric performs escape without pretending escape is permanent. The tribe is still counting down to the end of the night.

"The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)" (Tribe)

The Scene:

Time breaks. Snow stops. The tribe freezes. Claude enters in uniform, unseen and unheard, and speaks into silence. As the chorus builds, the group exits, revealing Claude lying center on a black cloth while Berger circles him in an “Eagle Dance.” Curtain. Then, often, the reprise invites the audience to sing.

Lyrical Meaning:

This is where the show cashes in all its talk. “Sunshine” is not a mood; it becomes a demand. The lyric keeps repeating because repetition is what ritual does when language fails.

Live updates (2025-2026)

“Hair” is in active circulation as a licensed title, which matters because this show’s afterlife lives in regional theaters, universities, and international houses. Concord Theatricals lists “Hair” for licensing and perusal, keeping the work readily producible across the professional and amateur ecosystem.

For 2026, a concrete example: Ohio University’s School of Theater lists “Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” in its season, scheduled February 26 through March 7, 2026 in the E.E. Baker Theater, with public ticketing linked. In Europe, Operabase lists “Hair” at Theater St. Gallen (Switzerland) with performances spanning late February through early June 2026, including posted ticket price ranges.

Listening habits have also kept the material alive. The 1968 Original Broadway Cast Album remains a central entry point for new audiences, and its preservation status has been formally recognized by the Library of Congress National Recording Registry listing.

Notes & trivia

• The musical premiered downtown at the Public Theater in October 1967, then reached Broadway on April 29, 1968 at the Biltmore Theatre.
• The libretto includes explicit alternate staging for Berger’s entrance around “I Got Life,” underlining how physical risk and surprise are baked into the show’s DNA.
• At the Be-In moment, the stage direction makes Claude’s indecision literal: he burns the draft card, then pulls it back out before singing “Where Do I Go.”
• A New Yorker anniversary piece recalls Diane Keaton as one of the original Broadway cast members and notes she was among the few who did not undress in the finale.
• The final sequence’s imagery is precise on the page: the chorus parts to reveal Claude’s body center on a black cloth, while Berger circles him in an “Eagle Dance.”
• The 1968 Original Broadway Cast Album appears on the Library of Congress National Recording Registry complete listing (entry includes the album title and its original year).
• Licensing availability through Concord has helped “Hair” remain a repeat title for companies that want a rock score, an ensemble-driven structure, and a built-in cultural argument.

Reception then vs. now

Early reactions often treated “Hair” like an unruly event as much as a musical. That framing was not entirely wrong. It arrived with a sound Broadway did not yet know how to classify, and with lyrics that refused polite distance from sex, drugs, and national symbols. Over time, the reception story shifted. Critics and historians began to describe how the show’s looseness was also its method, and how its “tribe” structure changed what could count as musical storytelling.

The 2009 revival era reintroduced “Hair” as both period artifact and live wire. One major review line that circulated widely captured the wager: can a show anchored in 1967 still answer the present tense? Some critics said yes, arguing the score’s urgency survives because the lyrics keep naming a country at war with its young.

“a wild, indiscriminate explosion of exuberant, impertinent youthful talents.”

“a perfect melding of story and antiwar sentiment with Galt MacDermot’s music”

“While it’s unmistakably a period piece, ‘Hair’ plays almost like a direct response”

Quick facts

• Title: Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
• Year (premiere): 1967 (Public Theater, Off-Broadway); Broadway opening April 29, 1968
• Type: Rock musical
• Book & Lyrics: Gerome Ragni, James Rado
• Music: Galt MacDermot
• Signature lyrical set-pieces (selected): “Aquarius” opening ritual; draft-card Be-In sequence; “Let the Sunshine In” finale
• Broadway footprint: Original production opened April 29, 1968 at the Biltmore Theatre; revival opened March 31, 2009 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre
• Album (key recording): 1968 Original Broadway Cast Album (RCA Victor); listed on the Library of Congress National Recording Registry complete listing
• Licensing / materials: Available via Concord Theatricals
• Trailer (video reference): YouTube video ID: _e21a2-OKXg

Frequently asked questions

Is “Hair” a plot musical or a concept musical?

It leans concept-first. The tribe structure lets songs behave like scenes, speeches, and rallies, while Claude’s draft crisis supplies the narrative spine.

Where should I start if I only know “Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In”?

Use “Where Do I Go” as your story compass, then “Easy to Be Hard” for character truth, then “Three-Five-Zero-Zero” for the show’s bluntest political language.

Why is the Be-In sequence so important?

It turns the show’s ideals into action. In the libretto, draft cards burn, Claude hesitates, and the lyrics shift from celebration into moral crisis.

Is the Original Broadway Cast Album still the definitive recording?

It remains the primary text for many listeners because it captures the score at peak cultural impact, and it is formally recognized on the National Recording Registry listing.

Are there current productions in 2026?

Yes, at least in specific venues. Ohio University lists performances Feb. 26 to Mar. 7, 2026, and Operabase lists Theater St. Gallen performances from late Feb. through early Jun. 2026.

Who actually “sings the ending”?

The tribe does, but the ending is staged as a reveal. As the chorus repeats, the group clears the stage and the image of Claude’s body is left behind.

Key contributors

Sources: IBDB; Concord Theatricals; Ohio University School of Theater; Operabase; The New Yorker; Variety; Playbill; Library of Congress; YouTube.