Hamilton: An American Musical may have been playing in theaters for several years now, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t more that can come from the story of our first Treasury Secretary. In 2016, The Hamilton Mixtape was released, giving us alternate versions of songs or songs that were ultimately cut from the musical.
In popular culture, it can be said that the highest form of flattery is when ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic parodies you. This week he took on Hamilton, premiering The Hamilton Polka on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Yankovic on The Tonight Show, and the three men talked about Weird Al’s new tour, taking Hamilton to Puerto Rico, and of course the song itself.
Here can see the full video of Fallon and Miranda reacting to hearing the song for the first time.
They then played the song on The Tonight Show, and all three men got into it, starting out by lip-syncing and then full-on dancing along with the music. Weird Al manages to hit all the major points of the musical, including bits from “Alexander Hamilton”, “Wait For It”, “The Schuyler Sisters”, “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”, “You’ll Be Back”, “The Room Where It Happened”, “Right Hand Man”, “Washington On Your Side”, “History Has Its Eyes On You”, and “My Shot”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-yiRIWkhLo
Listen to the full version of the song here, complete with accordion, slide whistle, and all manner of other sound effects!
What do you think of Weird Al’s version of the musical? Are you a fan of his other song parodies?
