What a Piece of Work Is Man Lyrics – Hair

Song Overview

Review & Highlights

Review

This track works because it pivots from Renaissance wonder to late-60s alarm without breaking the spell. The chorus moves in patient, hymnlike phrases while rhythm section and winds keep the pulse semi-weightless, so the lyrics land like a sermon you actually want to hear. Then the mood hardens: “How dare they try...” arrives as a protest refrain, clipped and urgent, the ensemble tightening into a chant that points straight at the war outside the album sleeve.

I hear three layers: Shakespeare’s prose riding a modal, almost psalmic melody; Claude’s inward murmur, fragile and slightly stunned; and the tribe’s collective reply, which reframes contemplation as action. It’s a two-minute bridge between tripping and waking up, and the engineering choices - close vocals, lean brass, that dry Purdie backbeat - keep it human-sized. Twice, the word lyrics flips function: first as borrowed scripture, later as street slogan.

Plot

Placed late in Claude’s psychedelic sequence, the song opens with the tribe admiring “man” - mind, body, motion - as if the world were cathedral-high. Claude then confesses the drift: joy gone missing, the sky a “pestilent congregation.” That’s the hinge. The tribe won’t let the vision die, so the second half snaps into call-and-response where the same lyrics become a picket sign. The coda cracks the trip open toward “Walking in Space,” and the show threads awe into defiance.

Creation History

Galt MacDermot sets Hamlet’s Act 2, Scene 2 as a tight chorale that floats over light rock rhythm and brass punctuation. Gerome Ragni and James Rado lift the prose, then answer it with Hair’s own text - the “How dare they try...” passage - effectively collaging Shakespeare with a 1968 street chant. The 2009 revival recording tightens the orchestration and foregrounds ensemble blend, with trumpets and woodwinds brightening the choral peaks.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The message starts in wonder. Humanity looks limitless - in reason, in motion, in reach - and the music slows to let that sink in. Then the floor drops: Claude admits he’s numb, and suddenly the beautiful ceiling feels toxic. That emotional whiplash is the point.

“In apprehension how like a god”

MacDermot treats this line almost like plainchant. The tribe’s blend is intentionally churchy - not ironic, more like counterculture liturgy. It reads as a reminder that the same species that designs vaccines and symphonies also designs wars. That tension hangs over the harmony the whole time.

“I have of late... Lost all my mirth”

Claude’s arc here is depressive realism. The rhythm section pulls back, and the harmony thins so his confession lands unadorned. Dramaturgically, the show looks through Hamlet’s window to explain why a draft notice could feel like the end of the weather itself.

“Why it appears no other thing to me / Than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors”

Shakespeare names the smog. Hair relocates that image to 1968 Manhattan - unrest, tear gas, televised war - and the tribe refuses to accept it as normal. When the refrain “How dare they try to end this beauty” hits, the groove tightens and the diction sharpens, like the mic is handed from a poet to an organizer.

Genre, rhythm, and production

This is Hair’s signature fusion: Broadway choir meeting rock pocket. The drums sit dry and unfussy; guitars and keys leave space; horns gild the peaks rather than dominate them. You hear late-60s pop harmony practice - parallel triads, bright fourths - inside a theater mic picture. The 2009 revival keeps it crisp and ensemble-forward.

Emotional arc

Start reverent, turn vulnerable, finish defiant. The last title phrase functions as protective spell - sing it enough times and maybe the world remembers what it’s risking.

Historical touchpoints

Hamlet’s prose predates Hair by centuries, but the idea - human potential in a broken climate - is evergreen. In 1968, the line read as counter to draft boards and nightly body counts. In the 2009 revival, it also resonated with a generation processing new wars and old inequities.

Language, metaphors, and symbols

“Majestical roof... fretted with golden fire” turns sky into architecture. The band’s shimmer underneath sells the metaphor without overpainting. When the lyric flips to “How dare they try,” the diction drops from cathedral to sidewalk - symbolically, the exit from trance to action.

On key phrases

“Piece of work” rings differently today. In Hamlet it’s awe; in American slang it can be a side-eye. Hair keeps the awe but lets the side-eye creep in at the edges, right where the chant begins.

Instrumentation notes

Winds, three trumpets, trombone, guitars, bass, percussion, and a locomotive but contained drumkit give the choir a backbone. The blend matters more than flash.

Key Facts

• Artist: Paris Remillard, Maya Sharpe, Gavin Creel & the Hair tribe
• Featured: Nicole Lewis (among tribe voices)
• Composer: Galt MacDermot
• Lyric sources: Gerome Ragni & James Rado; prose adapted from William Shakespeare
• Producers: Joel Moss, Kurt Deutsch
• Album: Hair - The New Broadway Cast Recording
• Release Date: June 23, 2009
• Label: Ghostlight Records (Sh-K-Boom)
• Genre: Broadway rock, choral pop
• Instruments: winds and brass, guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion, drums
• Track #: 32
• Language: English
• Mood: contemplative turning resolute
• Placement in show: within Claude’s “trip” sequence, bridging into “Walking in Space”
• © Copyrights: 2009 Ghostlight Records; underlying composition © authors as credited

Questions and Answers

Is the text really from Hamlet?

Yes. The opening prose is Hamlet’s Act 2, Scene 2, set to music. Hair adapts it, then adds its own chant.

Where does this sit in the show’s story?

Near the end of Act 2 during Claude’s hallucinatory sequence, right before it tilts back into “Walking in Space.”

Who leads the vocal on the 2009 recording?

Claude’s lines are led by Gavin Creel, with tribe voices including Paris Remillard and Maya Sharpe carrying the chorale and chant.

Was there a separate single release of this track?

No - it’s part of the full cast album rather than a standalone single campaign.

Does the 1979 film include this number?

It was recorded for the film and appears on the original soundtrack album, but the scene was cut from the final edit.

Awards and Chart Positions

The 2009 revival album that features this track debuted at no. 1 on Billboard’s Broadway/Top Cast Albums chart and entered the Billboard 200 at no. 63. It later received a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Show Album. The production itself won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

Additional Info

• The 2009 cast recorded the album at Legacy Studios, New York, in a single April session - the ensemble chemistry you hear is real-time theater energy bottle-capped.
• Drummer Bernard Purdie anchors the band on the revival recording; his economy and authority keep the chant grounded.
• In the Milos Forman film, “What a Piece of Work Is Man” was tracked but ultimately cut; it survives on the soundtrack release.
• The number has prior life on the Original Broadway Cast album and later London anniversary recordings - each with its own choral blend and pacing.