The Reynolds Pamphlet Lyrics – Hamilton

Song Overview

“The Reynolds Pamphlet” arrives late in Hamilton: An American Musical, yet it detonates like a scandal-sheet dropped from a balcony. Running a terse 2 minutes 08 seconds, the track was released on September 25, 2015 as part of the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton album — a record that has since gone diamond, the first cast album ever to do so.

Personal Review

I still remember hearing that opening bass crawl — the same figure Washington strides in on during “Right Hand Man,” only slowed to a taunt. The lyrics land like gossip whispered across pews: “Have you read this?” The whole company turns chorus, judge, and internet comment section at once. What I love most is the musical whiplash: trap-leaning drums, auto-tuned jeers, then Renée Elise Goldsberry’s Angelica slicing through the noise with that scalding vow, “You could never be satisfied…” The scene feels like a 1790s TMZ drop scored by Waka Flocka.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The heart of the number is reputational self-immolation. Hamilton, cornered by whispers of financial malfeasance, hurls out a 95-page confession to prove he misused passion, not public funds. In doing so he salts the earth of his own ambitions.

“The charge against me… my real crime is an amorous connection with his wife.”

Genre-wise, the track swerves into modern trap: sub-bass, chopped vocal samples, even a quick slather of Auto-Tune — sonic shorthand for chaos gone viral. It’s Miranda’s sly nod to 24-hour scandal culture; the founding fathers meet SoundCloud.

Emotionally the arc is brutal. The company’s chant — “Never gon’ be President now” — beats like a playground taunt while Angelica’s entrance flips the power dynamic. Her loyalty is to Eliza, not the man who once flirted “to her own music.” The refrain “That’s one less thing to worry about” becomes a dagger twisting in Hamilton’s gut.

Verse Highlights

Verse 1

Jefferson and Madison brandish the pamphlet like Twitter receipts, chanting highlights of Hamilton’s confession. The groove is sparse, letting each accusation breathe.

Chorus

Six overlapping voices hammer the hook. The repetition mirrors 21st-century meme culture; a chorus of retweets.

Angelica’s Bridge

Harmonic walls drop away; only strings and her voice remain. It’s the moral center — love for a sister over self.

Annotations

Picture the stage in sudden uproar: pamphlets flutter like paper snow, copper strings throb beneath an industrial drum loop, and the full company chants the title The Reynolds Pamphlet as though ringing a funeral bell for Alexander Hamilton’s ambition. In this three-minute whirlwind, The Reynolds Pamphlet Lyrics telescope a decade of gossip, pride, and ruin into a single public spectacle. Below, the original Genius annotations are woven into a fresh, essay-style exploration that keeps every key fact while letting the prose breathe, dance, and sometimes gasp in disbelief.

Overview

The Reynolds Pamphlet.

In the summer of 1797, Hamilton released a 95-page confession defending his public accounts yet confessing a three-year affair with Maria Reynolds. James Reynolds, husband-turned-blackmailer, had tried to frame Hamilton for embezzlement when imprisoned for speculation; the ex-Treasury Secretary answered not with silence, but with ink. Friends urged restraint—Oliver Wolcott Jr. called the accusations “base scandal” unworthy of reply—yet Hamilton doubled down, ensuring the scandal eclipsed any talk of fiscal honesty. The dramatized moment finds Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Aaron Burr all but dancing on his political grave, tossing printed pages as if making it rain over the Caribbean prodigy who once seemed unstoppable.

A few historical brushstrokes color the canvas. Maria Reynolds sued for divorce, guided by none other than Burr. George Washington, contrary to the shocked visage the musical grants him, remained a quiet ally; Martha Washington even sent the Hamilton household a prized wine cooler that still stands at The Grange in Harlem. Facts and feelings collide—the show heightens the tension, but history confirms the core catastrophe.

Musical Techniques

Have you read this?

A simple question, spat twice as “thish” so it slant-rhymes with pamphlet, launches the trap-inflected frenzy. The bass line crawls from “Right Hand Man,” stretched and grim, its DNA also nodding to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” reminding us Hamilton just squandered his one shot. Digitally pitched voices snarl the word “Damn!”—a classic trap trope—while an atonal reprise of the opening Alexander Hamilton motif paints the hero’s name in acid rather than glory.

Madison’s gleeful cry of “Highlights!” lands like a DJ’s “Remix!” tag, underscoring the pamphlet’s absurd length. Later, overlapping refrains pit Hamilton’s desperate “At least I was honest with our money!” against the mob’s merciless “Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.” Volume rises, keys shift, yet his voice still drowns. Angelica Schuyler’s entrance drops the sparkling piano figure from “Satisfied” in a tentative minor hue, then modulates upward as her loyalty pivots from flirtation to furious sisterly defense.

While the pamphlet’s clamor dissolves, Alex Lacamoire’s score slides a half-step from C-minor into the B-minor harp arpeggios of “Burn”; the keys are dissonant neighbors, perfect for the marital fracture that follows. Jefferson even breaks the fourth wall by handing a pamphlet to Lacamoire in the pit, a comic wink before the music turns to ash.

Character Dynamics

Alexander Hamilton had a torrid affair.

The phrase is sung with ghoulish relish by Jefferson, Madison, and Burr, their harmony purposely sour. Burr, veteran of his own extramarital entanglements, watches Hamilton’s public confession with the detached curiosity of a gambler sizing up a losing hand. Jefferson’s private prayer from “Cabinet Battle #1” comes true in a gospel-bright chorus:

Well, he’s never gon’ be President now.

Pamphlets swirl, King George III gleefully joins the rain of pages, and Hamilton stands frozen at the hurricane’s eye. The contrast between kinetic ensemble and stationary protagonist captures reputational implosion in real time.

Angelica’s arrival from London pivots the emotional weather. Crossing the Atlantic in 1797 was perilous; her journey signals gravity. Yet Hamilton greets her as savior —only to hear the scalpel line:

I’m not here for you.

The ensemble’s collective “Oooooh!” rings like a playground chorus. Angelica then recycles her earlier lyric:

I know my sister like I know my own mind.

But now the once-romantic motif is clipped, stern, almost judicial. She pledges total fidelity to Eliza, modulates upward, and delivers the devastating coda:

God, I hope you’re satisfied.

Hamilton, stripped of confidants—Washington retired, Laurens and Philip soon gone, Eliza about to ignite the letters in “Burn”—is shown as a prodigy who mistook speed for wisdom. Without steady friends, brilliance can curdle into self-sabotage.

Thematic Elements

• Public versus Private Virtue. Hamilton’s obsession with financial integrity blinds him to the equally potent moral expectations of the 18th-century public; adultery was a civic sin, still illegal in many states today.
• Words as Double-Edged Swords. His gift for pamphleteering wins wars of policy but loses the war of reputation. By “running off at the mouth,” he violates Burr’s creed of strategic silence.
• Sisterhood and Sacrifice. Angelica’s promise to choose Eliza’s happiness “every time” fulfills Jefferson’s teasing observation that she cares everything for friends, nothing for herself.
• Rhyme and Ruin. The comic “thish/pamphlet” rhyme and Kanye-style autotune on “You ever see somebody ruin their own life?” align 1790s scandal with modern celebrity flameouts—Taylor Swift’s award interruption lingers in the subtext.

Historical References

I had frequent meetings with her, most of them at my own house.

Those lines are nearly verbatim from the real pamphlet, though Hamilton swaps “her children” for “our children” in the show, a subtle plea for empathy. While Eliza visited her father in Albany, Hamilton nervously begged via letter for advance notice of her return—proof he feared being caught red-handed. The musical lets Philip stumble onstage, glimpse the brochure, and retreat in sorrow, reminding us scandal shatters not just office seekers but families.

Later parallels abound: when Jefferson faced rumors of a relationship with Sally Hemings, he chose silence over disclosure, a gamble Hamilton could not stomach. James T. Callender—the same muckraker who outed Hamilton—later sold stories on Jefferson, demonstrating the cyclical nature of political slander. Even Washington’s dignified quiet contrasts with the staged booing chorus that greets Hamilton’s printed confession.

Finally, Burr guiding Maria Reynolds’s divorce foreshadows the personal entanglements that would thread their rivalry, culminating in the fatal duel of 1804. Each figure’s choice—speak, stay silent, defend, or gloat—etches their moral silhouette in revolutionary marble.

Song Credits

• Featured: Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Okieriete Onaodowan, Phillipa Soo & company
• Producer: Bill Sherman, Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter, Questlove, Alex Lacamoire, Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Composer/Lyricist: Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Release Date: September 25 2015
• Genre: Show Tune / Hip-Hop (Trap-inflected)
• Length: 2:08
• Instruments: sub-bass, strings, drums, banjo accents, synthesizer swells
• Label: Atlantic Records
• Mood: Frenzied, sardonic
• Track #: 37 (Act II)
• Language: English
• Album: Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: compound duple with trap back-beat
• Poetic meter: loose anapestic clusters
• Copyrights © 2015 5000 Broadway Music / Atlantic Recording Corp.

Songs Exploring Similar Themes

While Hamilton flame-torches his reputation, other songs circle the same blaze:

“Burn” — Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton. Eliza answers her husband’s confession with silence and fiery paper. Where “The Reynolds Pamphlet” is public shaming, “Burn” is private erasure; she controls the narrative by destroying it. The orchestration softens, but the ache is nuclear.

“Cry Me a River” — Justin Timberlake. A 2002 pop-R&B kiss-off that also samples voicemail static. Timberlake weaponises confession, turning betrayal into chart-topping catharsis. The production drips with minor-key strings much like Lacamoire’s undercurrents.

“Before He Cheats” — Carrie Underwood. Here the vengeance is physical: Louisville slugger to headlights. Yet Underwood’s twang and Miranda’s rap share a spine — infidelity processed through vivid storytelling and rhythmic hooks. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s enemies do the emotional key-ing.

Questions and Answers

Why is the bass line familiar?

It echoes “Right Hand Man,” symbolising Hamilton’s rise and fall in one melodic stroke.

Was the pamphlet really 95 pages?

Yes. Hamilton titled it Observations on Certain Documents and published it on August 25 1797.

Did the track chart?

It never entered the Hot 100, but streams have surpassed 110 million on Spotify, rivaling mainstream pop singles from 2015.

Are there official remixes?

The Chicago cast issued “The Reynolds Pamphlet Remix” in 2016, adding gospel claps and extra bars for Burr.

Where can I see it performed?

The live capture in Hamilton (2020) streams on Disney+, timestamp 01:58:48.

Awards and Chart Positions

The song’s parent album won the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album and propelled the entire cast recording to diamond status in 2023 — the first Broadway record to hit that milestone.

How to Sing?

Range hovers between F₂ and B?₄, ideal for baritenors. Angelica’s bridge climbs to a sustained E₅, demanding diaphragmatic support and pinpoint breath control. Keep consonants crisp; the rap-sung verses rely on articulation more than vibrato. Tempo sits around 88 BPM — slow enough to feel ominous, quick enough to stay danceable.

Fan and Media Reactions

“The petty energy here is unmatched. Founding-father Twitter beef.”— Reddit user @cabinetbattle

“Angelica’s entrance? Goosebumps every time.”— YouTube comment

“Auto-Tune on Broadway felt jarring in 2015; now it’s genius retro-futurism.”— Blog review

“Never gon’ be President now — still the coldest political diss.”— Twitter fan thread

“My five-year-old chants the chorus; history class has never sounded so savage.”— Parenting forum post