In the Heights - Radio Edit

Lights up on Washington Heights

Up at the break of day

I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away

Pop the grate at the crack of dawn

Sing while I wipe down the awning

Hey y'all good morning

I am Usnavi and you prob'ly never heard my name

Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated

Exacerbated by the fact that my syntax is highly complicated cause

I emigrated from the single greatest little place in the Caribbean

Dominican

Republic

I love it

Jesus, I'm jealous of it

And beyond that

Ever since my folks passed on I haven't gone back

Goddamn,

I gotta get home then

I'm gonna test ya later

I'm getting tested times are tough on this bodega

Two months ago somebody bought Ortega's Our

neighbors started packin' up and pickin' up

And ever since the rent's went up

It's gotten mad expensive

But we live with just enough

In the heights

I can't survive without café

I serve café

Cuz tonight seems like a million years away!

En Washington—

Me and my cousin runnin' just another

dime-a-dozen

Mom-and-pop stop-and-shop

And, oh my god,

it's gotten too darn hot like my man Cole Porter said

People come

through for a few cold waters and

A lottery ticket,

just a part of the routine

Everybody's got a job;

Everybody's got a dream

They gossip,

as I sip my coffee and smirk

The first stop as people hop to work

Bust it— I'm like— One dollar, two

dollars, one fifty, one sixty-nine I got it

You want a box of condoms what kind?

That's two quarters Two quarter waters

The New York Times

You need a bag for that?

The tax is added

Once you get some practice at it

You do rapid

mathematics automatically

Sellin' maxipads and fuzzy dice for taxicabs and practically

Everybody's stressed, yes,

but they press through the mess

Bounce checks and wonder what's next

In the heights I buy my coffee and I go

I buy my coffee and—

Set my sights

On only what I need to know

What I need to know—

In the heights Money is tight

But even so—

Even so—

When the lights go down I blast my radio!

En Washington

Yeah, I'm a streetlight,

choking on the heat The world spins around while I'm frozen to my

seat The people that I know all keep on rolling down the street But

every day is different so I'm switchin' up the beat Cuz my parents

came with nothing They got a little more And sure, we're poor, but yo

at least we got the store And it's all about the legacy they left

with me, it's destiny And one day I'll be on a beach with Sonny

writing checks to me In the heights I hang my flag up on display We

came to work and to live and we got a lot in

common It reminds me that I came from miles away D

R., P

R., we are not stoppin'

In the heights

Every day, paciencia ye fe

Until the day we go from poverty to stock options

In the heights I've got today

And today's all we got,

so we cannot stop This is our block In the heights I

hang my flag up on display Lo le lo le lo lai lai lo le!

It reminds me that I came from miles away!

My family came from miles away— In the heights It gets more expensive

every day Every day And tonight is so far away—

But as for mañana, mi pana Ya gotta just keep watchin'

You'll see the Late nights You'll taste Beans and rice The syrups and

Shaved ice I ain't gonna Say it twice So turn up the stage lights

We're takin' a flight To a couple

of days In the life of what it's like

En Washington Heights!