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Right Hand Man (2014 Workshop)Lin-Manuel Miranda

Released: February 17, 2015

Featuring: Isaiah Johnson Leslie Odom Jr. Okieriete Onaodowan Anthony Ramos Daveed Diggs

Songwriter: Lin-Manuel Miranda

Producer: Lin-Manuel Miranda

[HAMILTON]
Now I can write a revolutionary screed until my fingers bleed
But action’s gonna bring us what we need

[ENSEMBLE]
Yes indeed

[HAMILTON]
Tonight we plant a revolutionary seed
And watch it twist and weave and grow
Until we choke out every weed

[ENSEMBLE]
Yes indeed

[HAMILTON]
Let’s grab those cannons with our legendary speed
Keep in step with me, the leader of this gang, are we agreed?

[ENSEMBLE]
Yes indeed

[HAMILTON]
Stick with me

[ENSEMBLE]
Yes indeed

[HAMILTON]
Til we’re free

[ENSEMBLE]
Yes indeed

[HAMILTON]
Say goodbye to the life you used to lead

[ENSEMBLE]
Here comes the General!

[BURR]
Ladies and gentlemen!

[ENSEMBLE]
Here comes the General!

[BURR]
The moment you’ve been waiting for!

[ENSEMBLE]
Here comes the General!

[BURR]
The pride of Mount Vernon!

[ENSEMBLE]
Here comes the General!

[BURR]
George Washington!

[WASHINGTON]
We are outgunned

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[WASHINGTON]
Outmanned

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[WASHINGTON]
Outnumbered, outplanned

[ENSEMBLE]
Buck buck buck buck buck

[WASHINGTON]
We gotta make an all out stand
Hey yo, I’m gonna need a right hand man

[ENSEMBLE]
Buck buck buck buck buck

[WASHINGTON]
Can I be real a second? For just a millisecond?
Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel second?
Now I’m the model of the modern major general
The venerated Virginian veteran whose men are all
Lining up, to put me up on a pedestal
Writin’ letters to relatives
Embellishin’ my elegance and eloquence
But the elephant is in the room
The truth is in ya face when ya hear the British cannons go…

[ENSEMBLE]
Boom!

[WASHINGTON]
Any hope of success is fleeting
How can I keep leading when the people I’m leading keep retreating?
We put a stop to the bleeding as the British take Brooklyn
Knight takes rook, but look
We are outgunned

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[WASHINGTON]
Outmanned

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[WASHINGTON]
Outnumbered, outplanned

[ENSEMBLE]
Buck buck buck buck buck

[WASHINGTON]
We gotta make an all out stand
Hey yo, I’m gonna need a right hand man

[COMPANY]
British Admiral Howe’s got troops on the water
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor


[ENSEMBLE 1]
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor

When they surround our troops!
They surround our troops!
When they surround our troops!
 
[ENSEMBLE 2]
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor


They surround our troops!
They surround our troops!

 
[HAMILTON]
They gonna slaughter us? No
We’ll be the regiment that gets it in and spreads them thin

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[HAMILTON]
The unpredictable rebels who gave their heads a spin

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[HAMILTON]
Who says I can’t lead?

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[HAMILTON]
Who says I can’t inspire?

[ENSEMBLE]
What

[HAMILTON]
Let’s bring our cannons back, we’re facing heavy cannon fire
The British fleet advances, morale slips
Taking chances, ma-a-a-n I ain’t scared of ships
Spread the word, when the commander says retreat
I’m the last man standing in the street
Blast the heat

[ENSEMBLE]
Boom!

[WASHINGTON]
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit spray

[ENSEMBLE]
Boom!

[WASHINGTON]
Goes the cannon, we’re abandoning Kips Bay

[COMPANY]
Boom!

[WASHINGTON]
There’s another ship and…

[COMPANY]
Boom!

[WASHINGTON]
We just lost the southern tip and…

[COMPANY]
Boom!

[WASHINGTON]
We gotta run to Harlem quick, we can’t afford another slip
Guns and horses giddyup
I decide to divvy up
My forces, they’re skittish as the British cut the city up
This close to giving up, facing mad scrutiny
I scream in the face of this mass mutiny:
Are these the men with which I am to defend America?
We ride at midnight, Manhattan in the distance
I cannot be everywhere at once, people
I’m in dire need of assistance…

[BURR]
Your excellency, sir!

[WASHINGTON]
Who are you?

[BURR]
Aaron Burr, Sir?
Permission to state my case?

[WASHINGTON]
As you were

[BURR]
Sir
I was a captain under General Montgomery
Until he caught a bullet in the neck in Quebec
And well, in summary
I think that I could be of some assistance
I admire how you keep firing on the British
From a distance

[WASHINGTON]
Huh

[BURR]
I have some questions, a couple of suggestions on how to fight instead of fleeing west

[WASHINGTON]
Yes?

[BURR]
Well—

[HAMILTON]
Your excellency, you wanted to see me?

[WASHINGTON]
Hamilton, come in, have you met Burr?

[HAMILTON]
Yes, sir

[HAMILTON AND BURR]
We keep meeting

[BURR]
Well, sir, I look forward to seeing your strategy play out

[WASHINGTON]
Burr?

[BURR]
Sir?

[WASHINGTON]
Close the door on your way out

[HAMILTON]
Have I done something wrong, sir?

[WASHINGTON]
On the contrary
I called you here because our odds are beyond scary
Your reputation precedes you, but I have to laugh

[HAMILTON]
Sir?

[WASHINGTON]
Hamilton, how come no one can get you on their staff?

[HAMILTON]
Sir!

[WASHINGTON]
Don’t get me wrong, you’re a young man, of great renown

[HAMILTON]
Yes, we fought together in Trenton, I helped you take the town

[WASHINGTON]
Nathaniel Greene and Henry Knox wanted to hire you

[HAMILTON]
I came to be a soldier, not a secretary

[WASHINGTON]
Why’re you upset?

[HAMILTON]
I’m not—

[WASHINGTON]
It’s alright, you want to fight, you’ve got a hunger
I was just like you when I was younger
Head full of fantasies of dyin’ like a martyr?

[HAMILTON]
Yes

[WASHINGTON]
Dying is easy, young man. Living is harder

[HAMILTON]
Why are you telling me this?

[WASHINGTON]
I’m being honest
I’m working with a third of what our Congress has promised
We are a powder keg about to explode
I need someone like you to lighten the load. So?

[COMPANY (EXCEPT HAMILTON)]
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
I am not throwin’ away my shot!
Ayo, I’m just like my country, I’m young
Scrappy and hungry!

[HAMILTON]
I am not throwing away my shot!

Lin-Manuel Miranda

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

Hamilton: An American Musical (2014 Workshop)

From the album
Lin-Manuel Miranda popular songs

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