We Know Lyrics – Hamilton

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Artists: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan
• Album: Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Track #: 35
• Release Date: September 25, 2015
• Writer: Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Producers: Bill Sherman, Alex Lacamoire, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Black Thought, ?uestlove
• Genre: Hip-hop theatre confrontation
• Mood: Taut, conspiratorial, pulse-racing
• Instruments: Pizzicato strings, dusty snare loop, sine-wave bass, clipped banjo flourishes, ominous cello swells
• Label: Atlantic Records / 5000 Broadway Music
• Length: ~3 min 15 sec
• Language: English
• Recorded at: Avatar Studios, NYC
• Copyright © 2015 5000 Broadway Music & Warner Chappell

Song Meaning and Annotations

The stage lights shrink to a dagger-slit; three political heavyweights step from the shadows, led by Jefferson’s velvet-lined sneer. We Know feels like an alleyway ambush set to a ticking metronome—every hi-hat strike another footstep closing in on Alexander Hamilton’s carefully curated legend. Lin-Manuel Miranda seeds dread by re-using the sinuous motif from “Say No To This”; the minute those minor thirds surface, seasoned ears know trouble is about to kick in the door.

The encounter is half audit, half shakedown. Jefferson and Madison wield check stubs like handcuffs, while Burr hangs back, coolly counting political chips. Hamilton’s opening line—“What is this?”—crackles with more self-defense instinct than curiosity. He recognises a tribunal when he hears one.

Musically the groove sits in a slow-burn 6/8, but syncopated kicks clip the barline, mirroring Hamilton’s racing thoughts. A clipped banjo chunk sneaks in at Jefferson’s “virtue is not a word I’d apply,” an Easter egg nodding to the frontier sound of America’s moral wilderness.

Opening Salvo

We have the check stubs from separate accounts / Almost a thousand dollars …

Jefferson and Madison recite the figures like courtroom stenographers; the dry numerals sting harder than name-calling because they smell incontrovertible.

Hamilton’s Counter-Gambit

If I can prove that I never broke the law …

Here he pivots from prey to litigator, dangling a conditional clause like car keys—promise silence and I’ll open the ledger. The orchestra drops to heartbeat kicks, forcing the audience to lean in.

The Smoking Correspondence

Dear Sir, I hope this letter finds you … You see, that was my wife …

Burr speaks Reynolds’ black-mail letter in a deadpan, the original receipts of 18th-century scandal. It’s the moment the audience realises this isn’t embezzlement; it’s infidelity weaponised by cashflow.

Final Standoff

The people won't know what we know

Jefferson and Madison retreat, alarms ringing behind their eyes. Burr lingers, throwing one last ominous hook: rumors grow. The bass line sliding a semitone tells us he’s right.

Annotations

Opening Flourish — A Familiar Tune

The first notes echo the People’s Court theme, a sly nod to public judgment. Seconds later, Jefferson, Madison, and Burr greet Hamilton with

“Mr. Vice President.”

The phrase mirrors Washington’s earlier

“Mr. President.”

Both moments blindside Hamilton, but this time the news is purely bitter; no consolation follows.

Who Really Knew First?

History credits James Monroe and Frederick Muhlenberg with uncovering the evidence before this trio. Still, Hamilton’s reaction here is revealing: he addresses each foe with icy precision — especially Burr, whose hard-won Senate seat once belonged to Hamilton’s father-in-law Schuyler. The formal titles feel like insults wrapped in etiquette.

An Unlikely Alliance

Jefferson and Burr, recent party rivals, now present a united front. Hamilton’s instant suspicion flares in his terse

“What is this?”

Follow the Money

Jefferson implies Hamilton used public funds for private pay-offs. The original blackmail totaled $1,000 — over $18,000 today — yet James Reynolds kept returning for modest sums of $30 or $40. Hamilton, perpetually cash-strapped, still produced every coin and kept receipts.

Rhetoric as Shield

Hamilton barrels through the conversation, fracturing his opponents’ rhythm. Madison’s lofty

“By virtue of your position…”

carries a double sting: virtue hints at chastity while mocking Hamilton’s alleged lack of it. Wordplay around “virtue” and “situation” threads the song.

Speculation & Suspicion

Charges of land speculation cut deep; critics already feared Hamilton’s debt plan favored speculators. Burr twists the knife with anti-immigrant rhetoric —

“this immigrant embezzling our funds”.

Jefferson waves the rising press corps like a sword, reminding Hamilton how quickly scandal sells papers.

“Look at My Life… Look at Your Choices”

Burr, once Hamilton’s soulful partner in “Dear Theodosia,” now warns him as a fellow father. Their mock-Caribbean taunt —

“You might win some…”

— alludes to Lauryn Hill’s “Lost Ones,” another tale of money and miscommunication.

The First “Know”

Hamilton gloats that his enemies don’t actually know the full story, turning the song’s title on its head. They demand a legal confession; he offers a moral one.

Reynolds, Receipts, and Rapidity

Hamilton unleashes a blistering list:

“She courted me, escorted me, extorted me…”

Lin-Manuel calls this his favorite verse — Hamilton turns “Super-Eminem,” freezing the room with razor-sharp internal rhymes. He brandishes literal receipts, daring them to check his “checkered history.” Homonyms — cent, scent, sent — fly by in seconds.

Adultery vs. Treason

Hamilton insists his sin is personal, not political: adultery may soil his marriage, but treason would sink the republic. Jefferson’s shocked

“My God.”

exposes both moral outrage and awe at Hamilton’s verbal onslaught.

“So?” — Echoes of Past Mistakes

Hamilton’s clipped question mirrors James Reynolds’ earlier

“So?”

from “Say No to This.” Burr answers with Hamilton’s first name, Alexander, signaling a shift in power: secrets now bind them.

“If You Don’t Know…”

Burr closes with a Biggie-tinged warning:

“We both know what we know.”

The phrase recalls Shakespeare’s Iago — ambiguous motives, silence as weapon. Hamilton senses the threat and will soon publish the Reynolds Pamphlet, detonating his own reputation before others can.

Lines

• “Mr. Vice President” déjà-vu – The greeting mirrors “One Last Time”. Instead of bittersweet news from Washington, Hamilton now meets three political sharks armed with evidence of his worst mistake.
• The real accusers – History tags James Monroe & Frederick Muhlenberg as the first investigators, but the show streamlines events by sending Jefferson, Madison & Burr. Their unlikely alliance instantly tells Hamilton trouble is coming.
• “Protean” charges ? embezzlement – They suspect Hamilton diverted Treasury funds (? $1,000 in 1792 ? $18 k today). In fact, the money covered hush-payments to blackmailer James Reynolds.
• Hip-hop courtroom – The beat nods to the People’s Court theme; Lin drops a “chopped-and-screwed” bass growl for menace. Burr stands in the “room where it happens”… finally.
• Check the receipts – Hamilton literally waves Reynolds’ signed IOUs. His rapid-fire defense (courted / escorted / extorted / sordid fee…) is LMM’s favorite internal-rhyme sprint in the score.
• Double-edge of “virtue” – Madison’s prim phrasing (“by virtue of your position”) lets Jefferson quip about Hamilton’s lack of virtue. The wordplay flips again when Hamilton swears the public treasury is “virtuous and immaculately intact.”
• “Lost Ones” echo – Jefferson & Burr mock Hamilton’s Caribbean roots (“You’re gonna keep all of this… from the public?”) in a cadence that recalls Lauryn Hill’s diss track.
• Only crime vs. only sin – The trio want admission of treasonous graft; Hamilton confesses to adultery instead. He wagers personal shame will shield his public legacy—a gamble that triggers the Reynolds Pamphlet.
• Burr’s meta aside – “No one else was in the room…” functions on two levels: a gleeful boast that their evidence is private, and a narrator wink that even this pivotal scene took place behind closed doors.
• (Side biographies, etymology of “treason,” BMI jokes, and press-history digression trimmed for focus.)

Similar Songs

1. “Say No To This” – Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton
   Both tracks share the creeping string motif and revolve around James Reynolds’ extortion scheme. “Say No To This” is steamy and dimly lit; “We Know” is fluorescent, clinical, accusatory. Together they form a cause-and-effect diptych—desire in act one, blackmail in act two. The reprise of musical cells ties Hamilton’s private sin to his public undoing, like a composer stamping evidence tags.
2. “Your Obedient Servant” – Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton
   Another duet-as-duel, but here the pen pals are Burr and Hamilton exchanging passive-aggressive RSVP’s to a duel. Where “We Know” brandishes paper proof, “Your Obedient Servant” turns correspondence into sabres. Both pieces exploit staggered vocal entrances and percussion dropouts to mimic heart palpitations before a fight.
3. “Lost Ones” – Lauryn Hill
   Miranda interpolates Hill’s flow in Hamilton’s rapid-fire confession (“I may have mortally wounded my prospects…”). Thematically, both tracks dissect betrayal, money, and reputational fallout. Hill uses neo-soul guitar and boom-bap; Miranda swaps in string stabs and colonial gossip, yet the rhythmic DNA is unmistakable—syncopated, righteous, unblinking.

Questions and Answers

Why does Jefferson cite “virtue” with a sneer?

He’s twisting Hamilton’s own moralistic brand against him—labeling the Treasury Secretary’s private life as hypocritical rot beneath public piety.

Is the $1,000 figure historically accurate?

Roughly. Surviving letters show Hamilton paid James Reynolds about $1,300 in total; Miranda trims the math for lyrical punch without warping the scandal’s scale.

What theatrical devices heighten tension on stage?

The lights narrow to a red-hued triangle, the ensemble freezes like statues, and a lone cello scratch underscores every “Confess,” turning choristers into a Greek chorus of judgment.

Does Burr truly promise secrecy?

Reluctantly. His “Um, yes” drips with hedged intent—a lawyer’s promise that expires the moment it’s politically convenient.

How does this scene propel the plot?

Hamilton’s frantic transparency seeds the “Reynolds Pamphlet,” detonating both his career and marriage; the public self-immolation begins here.

Fan and Media Reactions

“The moment Burr quotes ‘room where it happened’ the audience gasps—Miranda weaponises callback like Hitchcock used violins.” — @StagecraftJunkie

“I teach accounting; this song is the spiciest ledger reconciliation ever written.” — @NumbersAndNotes

“The check-book rap is pure hip-hop flex: receipts, rhyme, reputation—triple-threat.” — Playbill Pulse

“If ‘Say No To This’ is the affair’s candle-lit photo, ‘We Know’ is the flashbulb that blinds everyone.” — @SungThroughHistory

“Jefferson’s smug falsetto on ‘I can almost see the headline’ deserved its own Tony.” — @CabinetBattleStan