I Know Him Lyrics – Hamilton

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Artist: Jonathan Groff (as King George III)
• Album: Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Track #: 33
• Release Date: September 25, 2015
• Writer: Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Producers: Black Thought, ?uestlove, Alex Lacamoire, Bill Sherman, Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Genre: Brit-invasion pastiche / Broadway pop
• Mood: Sardonic delight, barely disguised menace
• Instruments: Harpsichordish electric keys, jangly guitar, chamber strings, ride cymbal, giddy handclaps
• Label: Atlantic Records (under Warner Music Group)
• Length: 1 minute 39 seconds
• Language: English
• Copyright © 2015 5000 Broadway Music & Warner Chappell

Song Meaning and Annotations

The curtain has barely fallen on George Washington’s farewell when King George III sashays back onstage, powder-blue coat sparkling like a pastry glaze. I Know Him is the monarch’s third bite of the apple, a curt encore to the earlier “You’ll Be Back” and “What Comes Next?”. The bounce of early-‘60s Merseybeat remains, but the tempo quickens, the orchestration thins, and the grin turns feral. We’re watching a royal gossip columnist discover Twitter in 1801.

Miranda wields irony like a sabre: the ex-imperial overlord marvels that a leader might voluntarily retire—an idea as alien as decaf tea. Groff milks the vowels (“Are they gonna keeep on replaaacing”) with feline amusement, then flips into a falsetto giggle that feels positively Shakespearean in its shade.

Musically, notice the smug trumpet stabs on “John Adams?!” and the half-step climb underneath “Oceans rise.” Each harmonic wink suggests the king physically tilting his crown to catch the spotlight. Yet the central nerve-ending is rhythm: a clipped triplet pattern that mirrors chattering courtiers, whispering that the upstart republic might implode under its own paperwork.

Opening Quip

They say / George Washington’s yielding his power …

A royal cannot compute term limits; it’s like telling a goldfish the bowl is optional.

Pivotal Line

Oceans rise / Empires fall

He tosses off world-historical collapse the way others discuss football scores, yet the internal rhyme (“rise / fall”) foreshadows his own shrinking relevance.

Laughing Coda

Da da da … Hahahaha

The nonsensical scat doubles as a villain’s exit laugh and a Beatles-esque “yeah-yeah-yeah,” fusing 18th-century monarchy with 20th-century pop swagger. It’s the sound of a man whistling past a crumbling empire.

Annotations

• Exit Washington, Enter King George – The monarch strolls on just as Washington ends “One Last Time,” pausing for an icy stare-down before the general exits. Instant comic tension.
• Same Tune, Same King – Opening bars mirror “You’ll Be Back” and “What Comes Next?” Amid America’s changes, George’s smug motif is a dependable constant.
• Cincinnatus 101 – Washington twice surrendered power (post-war & after two terms), sparking endless Roman comparisons. George III drafted his own abdication after losing the colonies but never signed it.
• “The Real Test Is the Second Guy” – Washington actually said the peaceful hand-off to John Adams would define the “grand experiment.” (America kept that streak intact until the 2021 insurrection.)
• Size Matters… to the King – Washington stood 6' 2?; Adams barely 5' 7?. George mocks the “little guy,” air-quoting America as a “country.” Fun fact: the Washington Monument once topped the world’s height charts.
• Historical Callback – A redcoat whispers “Adams is president.” George’s sputtered “What?!” nods to Adams’ awkward 1785 audience with the King.
• Infant Nation, Savage Instincts – George predicts Americans will “eat” Adams alive—part short-joke, part prophecy of party warfare that Washington warned about.
• Mad King Moment – Repeating “They say…” louder and louder, George bursts into a gleeful cackle (a wink to the laugh in Amadeus), hinting at his own bouts of madness.
• Motif of Isolation – He signs off, again, “all alone,” circling back to his earlier numbers even as America moves on.

Similar Songs

1. “You’ll Be Back” – Jonathan Groff
   The patriarch of King George’s trilogy introduces the Brit-pop DNA—jaunty harpsichord, nursery-rhyme cadence, sugar-coated threats. While “You’ll Be Back” basks in possessive heartbreak, I Know Him revels in smug schadenfreude. Same melodic family, different emotional season: the first track is a spurned lover’s plea; the latter is the ex gleefully stalking Instagram for breakup fallout.
2. “King Herod’s Song” – Paul Nicholas (Jesus Christ Superstar)
   Another cheeky monarch drops into a serious musical to roast the protagonist. Herod’s ragtime pastiche predates Hamilton’s Beatle-bounce by decades, yet both tunes weaponise quirk to lighten dense political drama. Each ruler mocks a would-be saviour—Herod taunts Jesus, George needles Adams—turning satire into narrative espresso shots.
3. “Gee, Officer Krupke” – Original Broadway Cast (West Side Story)
   Bernstein’s street punks and Miranda’s red-coated king share a toolkit: brisk tempo, comic lyric twists, and mock-respectful addresses to authority. Both songs critique governmental systems through humour; the Jets lampoon social services, George skewers elective democracy. Harmonically they sprint through IV-I cadences, leaving the audience breathless and a little unsettled.

Questions and Answers

Why does King George return for this short reprise?

Miranda uses him as a royal peanut gallery—an outsider’s comedic lens on America’s first peaceful transfer of power, highlighting how revolutionary that concept truly was.

Is the melody completely new?

No; it’s a sped-up, lyrically tweaked spin on the earlier “You’ll Be Back” motif, maintaining thematic unity while reflecting the king’s rising agitation.

What vocal tricks make Groff’s performance memorable?

Pin-sharp diction, glottal giggles, and that famous spit-spray on the “Good Luck” button; the dryness accentuates his smug disdain.

Where was the original cast recording made?

At Avatar Studios in New York City, capturing live ensemble energy with minimal post-processing to preserve Broadway immediacy.

How long does the number last onstage?

Roughly 90 seconds—just long enough to reset the audience’s mood before the darker “Adams Administration” sequence.

Fan and Media Reactions

“Groff turns a 90-second cameo into meme royalty—every ‘hahahaha’ is a gif waiting to happen.” — @RevolutionsInRhythm

“My eight-year-old sings this in the car; I’m both proud and vaguely worried for democracy.” — @DadOnBroadway

“The ironic cheerfulness reminds me of Monty Python meets Motown—utter earworm.” — StageBeat Magazine

“That final ‘Good Luck’ lands like a dagger wrapped in velvet.” — @LyricLuvr

“Whenever politics gets messy I queue this track and imagine the king munching popcorn across the Atlantic.” — @CivicSoundtrack