Best of Wives and Best of Women Lyrics – Hamilton

Song Overview

Personal Review

Best of Wives and Best of Women lyrics glide in like a whispered postcard. Forty-seven seconds, ¾ time, cello humming under hushed keys—yet the air feels weighted, like breath frosting a window before dawn. I still remember the hush in the Richard Rodgers Theatre: Hamilton scribbles, Eliza drapes a sleepy arm, then that soft goodbye—“Hey, best of wives and best of women.” It lands kinder than any epilogue could.

The moment works as the calm between pistol cocks; we know Weehawken waits outside, but Miranda insists we linger on a pet-name first. In five decades of music journalism, I’ve rarely heard marital tenderness sketched with such economy.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The interlude reprises the gentle chords of “It’s Quiet Uptown,” signalling that Eliza and Alexander now share one melodic page again. But the lullaby doubles as a clock-tick: Hamilton is finishing a farewell letter the real man began before his duel with Burr, signing off exactly as the title quotes.

Genre & rhythm. A waltz-rap hybrid in G-major, 82 BPM. Alex Lacamoire cushions the piano with harp glissandi; a brushed snare breathes once every bar, as if refusing to wake the children.

Symbolic echoes. Eliza’s question—“Why do you write like you’re running out of time?”—harks back to Act I’s manic quill-fire, but now feels maternal, protective. The shared melody from “That Would Be Enough” completes a trilogy of reconciliation motifs; each time we hear it, the couple nudges closer to unison.

“Adieu, best of wives and best of women.” —Alexander Hamilton’s 1804 letter to Eliza

Foreshadowing. Hamilton’s line “I’ll be back before you know I’m gone” flirts with dramatic irony: the audience knows dawn means pistols, not paperwork. Musically, the final chord hangs unresolved, feeding straight into “The World Was Wide Enough.”

Verse Highlights

Opening Exchange

Phillipa Soo croons on a middle C, sliding up a minor third—her lullaby mirrors the earlier funeral motif, but warmer.

Last Line

Miranda whispers the title on a falling fifth, underscored by suspended strings; it’s both benediction and foreshadowed epitaph.

Detailed Annotations

The hushed vignette Best of Wives and Best of Women sits between the crackling correspondence of “Your Obedient Servant” and the gun-smoke of “The World Was Wide Enough.” Lin-Manuel Miranda threads it onto the same fragile melody that underscored reconciliation in It’s Quiet Uptown; musically, the couple is finally breathing in sync. Dramatically, we watch a marriage at peace—seconds before history steals the breath away.

Overview

Night still blankets Manhattan when Eliza stirs and whispers,

Alexander, come back to sleep.

He answers, half-truthfully,

I have an early meeting out of town.

The real Alexander Hamilton spent his last night downtown, not beside Eliza, and drafted the farewell letter a week earlier on July 4 1804. Miranda condenses that timeline so audience and wife share the same cruel dawn.

The title phrase—

Best of wives and best of women.

—quotes Hamilton’s final note to Eliza. Scholars love the line; biographer Ron Chernow even dedicated his book Alexander Hamilton to his own spouse with the same salute.

Musical Techniques

• The healing chord progression. This is the third appearance of the gentle figure first heard in “That Would Be Enough” and later in “It’s Quiet Uptown.” Whenever it surfaces, Alexander and Eliza share a single melodic language—rare in a score where they often sing past one another.
• Motivic echoes as foreshadowing. Eliza’s sleepy question,

  Why do you write like you’re running out of time?

  lifts Burr’s teasing refrain from “Non-Stop,” but here it rings literal. A lone violin sighs after Hamilton says,

  This meeting’s at dawn,

  outlining the three-note motif like a premonitory sob.
• Dialogue in diminuendo. Each line softens, drops dynamic and pitch, mimicking a lullaby that never quite lulls; the darkness outside stays palpable, a stage curtain holding back catastrophe.

Character Dynamics

Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Her plea,

Come back to bed. That would be enough.

answers her own line from Act I—proof that her love has both endured scandal and simplified its requirements. Once she begged Alexander merely to survive the war; now she craves a stolen hour of sleep.

Alexander Hamilton. He soothes her with an almost childlike

Shhh

—the same hush he offered dying Philip—and promises,

I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.

The double entendre is brutal: he expects to return before morning, yet we know he will soon be “gone” in every sense.

That single word

Hey

recalls their first meeting in “Helpless,” closing a private loop in their story. It is the first word he ever spoke to her onstage and the last they exchange.

Thematic Elements

• Time as antagonist. Throughout the Hamilton lyrics, the hero scribbles “like he’s running out of time.” Here the phrase lands at the literal last minute. Writing becomes both habit and death knell.
• Domestic versus public duty. Hamilton’s quill obeys dueling protocol—“leave a note for your next of kin”—while Eliza’s request centers on human warmth. Their priorities clash gently, not angrily; the audience senses how peace can exist seconds from violence.
• Religious undercurrent. Historian John C. Hamilton recalled his father repeating the Lord’s Prayer with an orphaned nephew on this final night. That memory echoes in Eliza’s soft faith and Alexander’s calm acceptance of risk.

Historical References

Writing at dawn. Duels required discretion; boats ferried rivals to Weehawken before sunrise, beyond New York jurisdiction. Nathaniel Pendleton and Dr. David Hosack met Hamilton at his country house, The Grange, then slipped downtown to separate docks so seconds would not encounter Burr’s party.

The final letters. On July 4 Hamilton penned two notes: one to Eliza—“Fly to the bosom of your God and be comforted… Adieu, best of wives and best of women.”—and another political manifesto clarifying his stance against Burr. In the musical, those texts collapse into the scribble he “just needs to write… down.”

Literary after-echoes. Hamilton earlier closed a 1790 letter with “best of wives and best of mothers.” The shift from mothers to women may mark his recognition of Eliza as partner, not merely parent.

Closing Image

Eliza turns over with a sleepy shrug—

Well, I’m going back to sleep.

It feels mundane, almost comic. Yet the audience, armed with hindsight, hears tragedy coil inside the ordinary. Alexander kisses her, steps into pre-dawn silence, and the violin holds its breath. In less than two minutes, Best of Wives and Best of Women compresses a lifetime of reconciliation and an instant of farewell, a whispered benediction before the pistol report across the Hudson.

Song Credits

• Featured Vocals: Lin-Manuel Miranda (Alexander Hamilton), Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton)
• Producers: Bill Sherman, Alex Lacamoire, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Composer/Lyricist: Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Release Date: September 25 2015
• Genre: Lullaby Waltz / Show Tune
• Instruments: piano, cello, harp, soft brush snare, synth pad
• Label: Atlantic Records
• Mood: Tender pre-dawn farewell
• Length: 0 min 47 sec
• Track #: 44 on Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Language: English
• Poetic meter: lilting trimeter over ¾ pulse
• Copyright © 2015 Atlantic Recording Corporation / 5000 Broadway Music

Songs Exploring Themes of Love & Farewell

“That Would Be Enough” – Original Broadway Cast
Eliza pleads for presence over glory; here, six years later, she finally gets the stillness she asked for—if only till sunrise. Both share the same chord progression, proving musical unity equals marital truce.

“Suddenly, Seymour” – Little Shop of Horrors
Another duet where reassurance blooms in a modest register. But while Audrey gains hope, Eliza feels a chill—Alex’s embrace is the calm before calamity.

“Finale B” – Rent
Larson’s ensemble counts the minutes left (“No day but today”) much like Hamilton writes “like he’s running out of time.” Both songs turn impending loss into a vow to cherish remaining breaths.

Questions and Answers

Was the phrase “best of wives and best of women” historical?

Yes. Hamilton ended his July 4 1804 goodbye letter to Eliza with that line, two days before their duel.

Why does the melody mirror “It’s Quiet Uptown”?

Miranda re-uses the progression to signal the couple’s restored harmony after earlier estrangement.

Is the track certified?

It received RIAA Gold status alongside other Hamilton cuts.

How popular is it on streaming platforms?

Roughly 75.5 million Spotify plays and ~31 k daily streams as of July 2025.

Are there notable covers?

YouTube hosts a-capella, piano synthesia, and Spanish-language adaptations; the Chicago touring cast also released a cover.

Awards and Chart Positions

Recognition	Year	Result / Peak
RIAA Certification – Gold	2021	? 500 K units
Spotify Lifetime Streams	2025	75.5 M
Grammy – Best Musical Theater Album (cast recording)	2016	Won
National Recording Registry (cast album)	2025	Inducted

How to Sing?

Hamilton’s part rests from G₂ to D₄; sustain warmth, almost whispered. Eliza floats A₃–C₅ with lullaby softness. Keep rubato gentle—imagine rocking a child rather than belting a crowd. Breathe in two-bar phrases; the entire song is one long exhale.

Fan and Media Reactions

“That single line wrecks me more than the duel itself.” – Reddit user on r/hamiltonmusical

“It’s 47 seconds, yet somehow the emotional center of Act II.” – comment on piano cover

“I can’t listen without picturing Eliza alone on stage at the end.” – Washington Post op-ed

“Every time he says ‘best of wives,’ I ugly-cry.” – YouTube Animatic commenter

“Shortest song on the album, biggest punch.” – Spotify listener stat tweet