| "Dear Theodosia" | |
|---|---|
| Song byLeslie Odom Jr.,Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the cast ofHamilton | |
| from the albumHamilton | |
| Released | 2015 (2015) |
| Genre | Show tune |
| Length | 3:05 |
| Songwriter | Lin-Manuel Miranda |
| Audio | |
| "Dear Theodosia" onYouTube | |
"Dear Theodosia" is the penultimate song from Act 1 of the musicalHamilton, based on the life ofAlexander Hamilton, which premiered onBroadway in 2015.Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote both the music and lyrics to the song. The song is sung by the characterAaron Burr, originally performed byLeslie Odom Jr., and Hamilton, originally performed by Miranda.
Miranda wrote this song during a week spent in the Dominican Republic, while they were visiting his wife Vanessa Nadal's ill aunt. During this week, the couple met a small dog that they eventually adopted and named Tobillo ("ankle" in Spanish), and Nadal's aunt died. Miranda has written that this song is "the calm in the storm of our show, and it was the calm in the storm of my life in that moment."[1]
The song is sung byAaron Burr andAlexander Hamilton. They welcome their respective children,Theodosia andPhilip, into the world. The men proclaim that they will fight to make the world better for their children. They vow to give their children a better childhood than their own.The Hollywood Reporter acknowledges the coincidence reflected within the song, in which "two orphaned men...contemplate the rewards of fatherhood."[2]Vibe added that this "fatherly ballad...gives the dads a chance to reflect on their childhoods whilst contemplating how to be better with their own kids".[3]
The "parenthood song"[4] has a lyrical reference to "Blow Us All Away", in the metaphorical sense of overwhelmingly impressing their parents by their future successes. However,The Huffington Post notes that this lyrical motif will reappear later on in the musical in a more literal context when young Phillip is literally blown away by a gun in a duel during the song "Blow Us All Away".[5]
David Rooney ofThe Hollywood Reporter praised "Dear Theodosia" for being a "heartbreaker".[2] Chris Bodenner ofThe Atlantic declared the song the "track of the day" on January 3, 2016, due to a recommendation by a reader who said "I love the way this song tenderly expresses the humbling experience of parenthood shared by two men—both quite roughened to the ways of the world and otherwise vehemently opposed. The common ground of our humanity."[6]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[7] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[8] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
"Dear Theodosia" also appears twice onThe Hamilton Mixtape, first sung byRegina Spektor featuringBen Folds, and another version sung byChance the Rapper andFrancis and the Lights. Spektor and Folds' version peaked at number 38 on theHot Rock Songs chart,[9] and was performed live as a part ofNational Symphony Orchestra’s DECLASSIFIED: Ben Folds Presents series.[10]
On December 30, 2018, a cut reprise of the song covered bySara Bareilles was released as part of the "Hamildrop" project.
