It's Quiet Uptown

"It's Quiet Uptown"
Song by Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, & the Cast of Hamilton from the album Hamilton
Released	2015
Genre	Ballad show tune
Length	4:31
Writer(s)	Lin-Manuel Miranda
Composer(s)	Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lyricist(s)	Lin-Manuel Miranda
Language	English
Hamilton track listing
"Stay Alive (Reprise)" (17) "It's Quiet Uptown" (18) "The Election of 1800" (19)

"It's Quiet Uptown" is a song from the stage musical Hamilton. The musical premiered on Broadway in August 2015, ^[1] after an engagement Off-Broadway in February to May 2015. The song was composed, both music and lyrics, by Lin-Manuel Miranda.^[1] The song takes place in the second act of the musical, as the characters Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza grieve over their son's death.

Background

Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton's musical director said the show's best use of strings is "probably 'It’s Quiet Uptown,' when there’s nothing else playing except those two guys. The lyric's 'It's quiet uptown' — you're not getting quieter than two strings playing gently."^[2]

Synopsis

The song describes Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza's unimaginable grief as they try to come to terms with their son's death. This "hushed instrumental" sees them "reflect on everything that has happened over the course of their lives together as Alexander tries his best to apologize to his wife."^[3]

Analysis

The Huffington Post offers an explanation to the vague nondescript language used throughout the song: "Our guide, our word-playing, rhyming, subtle, subtextual, double-meaning beacon of logic and reason is utterly unable to comprehend the death of his son, rendered speechless. By telling us that he can't tell us about it, Miranda shows us Hamilton's despair".^[4]

The New York Times likened the song to "Biggie’s 'Suicidal Thoughts,' still one of the most chilling hip-hop songs of all time", as they both "confront [their] own mortality...end[ing] up exhausted, frayed, desperate".^[5] Varsity suggests the song is influenced by Laurence O'Keefe.^[6]

Critical reception

The song has received critical acclaim.

New York Theatre Guide wrote that the song "literally left me a tear-stained wreck of a human being".^[7] Entertainment Weekly said the song "[isn't] afraid to slow the story down for moments of hushed sincerity".^[8] Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times said "No contemporary musical has touched grief in a song as profoundly as 'It's Quiet Uptown,' which I'll confess is impossible for me to listen to without tearing up".^[9] Emertainment Monthly said the song is "one of Miranda’s most poetic numbers".^[10] Patheos says the song is "tear-jerking because of the way...it takes a death to bring [Eliza and Hamilton] together" after his infidelity.^[11] TheatreMania said the "tearjerker" is "devastatingly beautiful".^[12] The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the "exquisite [song] resonates with such raw, wrenching feeling it elicits sobs from the audience".^[13] Record Collector News noted the song "slows the pace to capture Hamilton’s grief over a loss", describing it as "one of the saddest songs ever heard since Jacques Brel’s 'The Desperate Ones.'"^[14] Hannah McFadden from Yakima Herald said the song "always leaves me a sniveling and pathetic mess."^[15] Papyrus wrote "I have listened to the full album around twenty times now...and I have not been able to listen to this full song without crying."^[16] Noisey said the song is "agonized" and "atypically melodic".^[17] Library Journal explained that the song is "guaranteed to make me cry just thinking about it".^[18]

Mixtape version

"It's Quiet Uptown"
Promotional single by Kelly Clarkson from the album The Hamilton Mixtape
Released	November 3, 2016
Recorded	2016
Genre	Electropop R&B
Length	4:38
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Hamilton Mixtape track listing
"Valley Forge (Demo)" (8) "It's Quiet Uptown" (9) "That Would Be Enough" (10)

Released on November 3, 2016 alongside "My Shot", American singer Kelly Clarkson released a mixtape version of "It's Quiet Uptown" as a promotional single from the upcoming mixtape album The Hamilton Mixtape (2016).

In 2009, Lin-Manuel Miranda began a project entitled The Hamilton Mixtape that would eventually transform into the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton.^[19] During the development of the musical production, Miranda frequently communicated that a "mixtape" of select songs from the show's score was being recorded.

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[20]	24

References

1. Hamilton at the Internet Broadway Database
2. Jones, Nate (January 13, 2016). "Nerding Out With Hamilton's Musical Director". Vulture.
3. "Going H.A.M.: A Track-By-Track Review Of The 'Hamilton' Soundtrack". Vibe.
4. "I Have an Opinion on Every Song in "Hamilton"". The Huffington Post. 1 October 2015.
5. Tommasini, Anthony; Caramanica, Jon (30 August 2015). "Exploring ‘Hamilton’ and Hip-Hop Steeped in Heritage". The New York Times.
6. "Hamilton: Fresh off the block". Varsity Online, University of Cambridge. January 22, 2016.
7. Millward, Tom. "Show of the Week: Hamilton at Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway". New York Theatre Guide – Online.
8. Greenblatt, Leah. "'Hamilton': EW stage review". Entertainment Weekly.
9. McNulty, Charles (4 November 2015). "Review: 'Hamilton' is a watershed musical that sets a Founding Father's tale to hip-hop". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
10. Dominick, Nora. "A Day Spent Listening to 'Hamilton'". Emertainment Monthly.
11. "Hamilton The Musical: An Album Review". Monique Ocampo Writes.
12. Stewart, Zachary (6 August 2015). "Hamilton". TheaterMania.com.
13. Rooney, David (31 August 2015). "Critic's Notebook: Why 'Hamilton' Counts as a Legitimate Game Changer". The Hollywood Reporter.
14. "THE BEST OF 2015".
15. McFadden, Hannah (14 February 2016). "Soundtrack conveys all power, pop of musical 'Hamilton'". Yakima Herald-Republic.
16. "Hamilton: An American Musical". Greenville College Papyrus.
17. "Poets, Playwrights, and Pranksters: Expert Witness with Robert Christgau". Noisey. Vice.
18. "Best Media 2015: Music". Library Journal Reviews.
19. Viagas, Robert. "Beach Read to Broadway! How Lin-Manuel Miranda Turned a History Book into 'Hamilton'" Playbill, August 5, 2015
20. "Kelly Clarkson – Chart history" Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 for Kelly Clarkson. Retrieved November 16, 2016.