Why We Build the Wall Lyrics - Hadestown

Song Overview

“Why We Build the Wall” sits at the moral crossroads of Hadestown - a call-and-response creed where Hades teaches workers to chant a logic loop. Written by Anaïs Mitchell long before 2016 politics, it landed on the 2010 concept album and, in the Broadway era, became track 19 of the 2019 Original Broadway Cast Recording.

Review & Highlights

Creation History

The song took shape in the mid-2000s as Mitchell workshopped Hadestown in Vermont; it appeared commercially on the 2010 concept album, years before American border politics made it feel topical.

For Broadway, the track arrived to streaming June 7, 2019 during the show’s “character drop” rollout, then the full album landed July 26, 2019.

Review. The power move here is form. Hades asks; the workers answer. That antiphonal pattern builds like masonry, each refrain stacking another lyrical brick until the creed turns airtight. The groove grinds like a work gang, low brass and drums pushing a march while Patrick Page’s bass voice sits subterranean. It’s chilling because it’s catchy. The lyrics read like a lesson plan; the music makes the lesson stick.

Plot. Onstage, this is indoctrination in real time. Eurydice has taken the deal; now she learns the doctrine: poverty is the enemy, labor is salvation, the wall keeps you “free.” By the final round, she’s answering with the rest, and that’s the point - conversion achieved. The lyrics circle back to where they started, like labor that never ends.

Verse 1 - The catechism begins

Hades frames the questions like a benevolent boss; the chorus supplies the “right” answers. That gap between inquiry and response is the trap.

Chorus - Work as freedom

“We build the wall to keep us free” is the show’s most unsettling paradox - liberation sold as enclosure, sung in unison to erase dissent.

Exchange/Bridge - Naming the enemy

The text pivots from abstract “enemy” to “poverty,” then, slyly, to the poor themselves. Divide-and-conquer in four bars.

Final Build - The wall that sings

The refrain stacks lines instead of swapping them out. You can hear the wall go up - brick on brick - until the circle closes around the workers.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The song teaches a worldview in plain language: ask a leading question, reward the correct response, repeat until belief sets. It’s propaganda you can hum.

“This song is antiphonal in structure – there is a clear call and response.”

Mitchell wrote it years before the 2016 campaign, which is why it lands like prophecy rather than parody.

“Hades refers to his workers as ‘children’... This paints Hadestown as a dictatorship.”

Inside the lyric is a clever switch. First, poverty is the enemy; then the lyric slides toward poor people as the threat.

“He then subtly shifts the blame from poverty to poor people.”

The circular structure is dramaturgy.

“The lyrics don’t drop, they stack. Like mortar, like bricks.”

There’s also intimacy in how Hades singles out Eurydice.

“He speaks directly to Eurydice… it feels paternal in that moment.”

Musically, the number rides a work-song march: floor toms, low brass, unison chorus. Page’s cavernous lows anchor the harmony while the company’s tight responses erase individuality.

“There is no room for personal, creative thinking… there is nothing but the workers and the wall.”

The line “we have a wall to work upon” completes the loop: work fights poverty by creating itself.

“Each verse leads from one reason for the wall to the next, until it circles back to the original point.”

Culture echoes: the lyric predates but eerily mirrors the 2010s discourse, which is why journalists kept noting its “topical” sting.

“Many theatergoers assume the song… is a very modern, very political reference to President Donald Trump.”

Finally, the tune’s afterlife: artists outside the show heard the warning and covered it in protest contexts.

“Billy Bragg releases ‘Why We Build the Wall’… on Bridges Not Walls.”

Production & instrumentation

On the Broadway record, the cut hits as a four-minute sermon: punchy percussion, trombone snarls, and a chorus drilled to unison. The stacked refrain becomes the arrangement’s spine.

Symbols, metaphors, idioms

“Wall” is the metaphor that swallows the show’s themes: enclosure sold as freedom, progress as repetition, labor as identity. Every “why” narrows the possible answers until only obedience remains.

Key Facts

• Artist: Patrick Page & Hadestown Original Broadway Company
• Writer/Composer: Anaïs Mitchell
• Producers (track/album team): Todd Sickafoose, David Lai, Anaïs Mitchell; executive producer Mara Isaacs
• Album: Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Release date (digital drop for this track): June 7, 2019
• Label: Sing It Again Records
• Length: 4:02
• Track #: 19
• Genres/Style: Showtunes, folk, jazz-influenced Americana
• Mood: March-like, indoctrinating, ominous
• Language: English
• Notable cover: Billy Bragg, 2017 single and on the 2018/2017 Bridges Not Walls release cycle
• Context note: Written years before 2016 yet widely read as topical in later productions
• © Copyrights: © 2019 Sing It Again Records (album release context)

Questions and Answers

Was “Why We Build the Wall” written in response to U.S. politics in 2016?

No. Mitchell had the song in the show’s DNA by the late 2000s and released it on the 2010 concept album; the later resonance is coincidence that underscores its allegory.

When did this track hit streaming as part of the OBC rollout?

June 7, 2019, in the first “character drop,” with the full album arriving July 26, 2019.

What makes the structure feel like a wall being built?

The refrain doesn’t replace lines from verse to verse; it adds them. The text literally stacks, mirroring masonry.

Did artists outside Broadway cover the song?

Yes. Billy Bragg released a cover in 2017 tied to his Bridges Not Walls EP and tour.

Where can I hear the Broadway version officially?

The OBC audio is on major platforms and on YouTube via the label’s “topic” upload.

Awards and Chart Positions

Grammy: The Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording) won Best Musical Theater Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020.

Charts (album): US Billboard 200 peak #49; US Independent Albums #4; US Cast Albums #1. In 2024, the album also appeared on UK charts (Soundtrack Albums #1; Compilation Albums #40).

How to Sing “Why We Build the Wall”?

Vocal range & placement. Hades is a true bass part with occasional sub-basement notes; the role has been documented down to G1. On the record, keep the weight low in the mask and resist over-darkening to stay intelligible.

Delivery. Treat the verses like a foreman’s safety briefing: measured, paternal, a hair too calm. The chorus should feel drilled-in, almost emotionless.

Ensemble craft. The unison responses are the ideology. Lock vowels, tighten cutoffs, and let the percussion dictate the march.

Breath & tempo. Aim for steady, economical breaths before each “My children” prompt. Keep the pulse metronomic so the stack of lines stays crisp.

Additional Info

• Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin have publicly unpacked the number’s staging and inspiration in short features and interviews, useful for directors tackling tone and pacing.
• Billy Bragg’s cover helped the song migrate into folk-protest circles beyond theater audiences.
• The Broadway cast also performed selections around the time of NPR’s Tiny Desk appearance, keeping the show’s band sound intact in non-theatrical spaces.