Lin-Manuel Miranda

Released: June 3, 2008

Featuring: Olga Merediz

Songwriter: Lin-Manuel Miranda

Producer: Joel Moss Kurt Deutsch Andres Levin Bill Sherman Alex Lacamoire Lin-Manuel Miranda

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
Calor… calor… calor…
Calor… calor… calor…
Ay Mamá!
The summer’s hottest day!
Paciencia y fe! Paciencia y fe!
Ay, carajo, it’s hot!
But that’s okay!
Mamá would say, "Paciencia y fe!"

It was hotter at home in La Víbora
The Washington Heights of Havana!
A crowded city of faces the same as mine!
Back as a child in La Víbora
I chased the birds in the plaza
Praying, Mamá, you would find work
Combing the stars in the sky for some sort of sign!
Ay, Mamá, so many stars in Cuba…
En Nueva York we can’t see beyond our streetlights…
To reach the roof you gotta bribe the supa...
Ain’t no Cassiopeia in Washington Heights…
But ain’t no food in La Víbora…

I remember nights, anger in the streets, hunger at the windows
Women folding clothes, playing with my friends in the summer rain…
Mamá needs a job, Mamá says we’re poor, one day you say, "Vamos a Nueva York..."
And Nueva York was far
But Nueva York had work and so we came…

And now, I’m wide awake
A million years too late
I talk to you, imagining what you’d do
Remembering what we went through

Nueva York! Ay Mamá!
It wasn’t like today, you’d say
"Paciencia y fe

[NEW YORKERS]
"Paciencia y fe

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
Paciencia y fe!"

[NEW YORKERS]
Paciencia y—

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
Fresh off the boat in America
Freezing in early December
A crowded city in 1943!
Learning the ropes in America
In español, I remember
Dancing with Mayor La Guardia
All of society welcoming mami and me!
Ha!

[EMPLOYERS]
You better clean this mess!

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
Paciencia y fe…

[EMPLOYERS]
You better learn inglés!

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
Paciencia y fe…

[EMPLOYERS]
You better not be late…
You better pull your weight…
Are you better off than you were with the birds of La Víbora?

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
Sharing double beds, trying to catch a break, struggling with English
Listening to friends, finally got a job working as a maid
So we cleaned some homes, polishing with pride
Scrubbing the whole of the Upper East Side
The days into weeks, the weeks into years, and here I stayed

[NEW YORKERS]
Paciencia y fe…
Paciencia y fe…
Paciencia y fe…

[ABUELA CLAUDIA & NEW YORKERS]
And as I feed these birds
My hands begin to shake
And as I say these words
My heart’s about to break
And ay Mamá
What do you do when
Your dreams come true?
I’ve spent my life
Inheriting dreams from you

[ABUELA CLAUDIA]
What do I do with this winning ticket?
What can I do but pray?

I buy my loaf of bread
Continue with my day
And see you in my head
Imagining what you’d say
The birds, they fly away
Do they fly to La Víbora?

(spoken)
Alright, Mamá. Okay

(sung)
Paciencia y fe

[NEIGHBORS]
Calor, calor, calor!

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning American writer, composer, playwright, and actor. He created and starred in two hit musicals, In the Heights and Hamilton (2015), an epic adaptation of Ron Chernow’s biography of the American founding father. Miranda also co-wrote the music and lyrics for Disney’s Moana (2016). The film’s main theme, “How Far I’ll Go”, was nominated for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Personally, Miranda has received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Hamilton), three Tony Awards (Best Original Score for both ITH and Hamilton, Best Book of a Musical for Hamilton), two Grammys (Best Musical Theatre Album ITH, Hamilton), and an Emmy (Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “Bigger”). He was the recipient of the 2015 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant”. He has a star on the Puerto Rican Walk of Fame and will receive a Hollywood star in 2018.

Awards for musicals

more tracks from the album

In The Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

From the album

In The Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008)

Lin-Manuel Miranda popular songs

Paciencia y FeLin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda

In The Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording)