Lin-Manuel Miranda Lyrics
Right Hand Man Lyrics
[COMPANY:]
British Admiral Howe's got troops on the water
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor
[ENSEMBLE 1 (ENSEMBLE 2):]
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor
(Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor)
When they surround our troops!
(They surround our troops!)
When they surround our troops!
[HAMILTON:]
As a kid in the Caribbean I wished for a war
I knew that I was poor
I knew it was the only way to
[HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE:]
Rise up!
[HAMILTON:]
If they tell my story
I am either gonna die on the battlefield in glory or
[HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE:]
Rise up!
[HAMILTON:]
I will fight for this land
But there's only one man
Who can give us a command so we can
[HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE:]
Rise up!
[HAMILTON:]
Understand? It's the only way to
[HAMILTON/BURR/MULLIGAN/LAURENS/LAFAYETTE:]
Rise up! Rise up!
[HAMILTON:]
Here he comes!
[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 (ENSEMBLE):]
We are outgunned (What?)
Outmanned (What?)
Outnumbered
Outplanned (Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!)
We gotta make an all out stand
Ayo, I'm gonna need a right-hand man (Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!)
[WASHINGTON:]
Check it
Can I be real a second?
For just a millisecond?
Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel a second?
Now I'm the model of a 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
[WASHINGTON (ENSEMBLE):]
We are outgunned (What?)
Outmanned (What?)
Outnumbered
Outplanned (Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!)
We gotta make an all out stand
Ayo, I'm gonna need a right-hand man (Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!)
Incoming!
[HAMILTON:]
They're battering down the Battery check the damages
[MULLIGAN:]
Rah!
[HAMILTON:]
We gotta stop 'em and rob 'em of their advantages
[MULLIGAN:]
Rah!
[HAMILTON:]
Let's take a stand with the stamina God has granted us
Hamilton won't abandon ship
Yo, let's steal their cannons
[MULLIGAN (COMPANY):]
Shh-boom! (Boom!)
[WASHINGTON:]
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit spray and...
[COMPANY:]
Boom!
[WASHINGTON:]
Goes the cannon, we're abandonin' Kips Bay and...
[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 & BURR:]
We keep meeting
[BURR:]
As I was saying, 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
I know you stole British cannons when we were still downtown
Nathaniel Green and Henry Knox wanted to hire you...
[HAMILTON:]
To be their Secretary? I don't think so
[WASHINGTON:]
And 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!
[WASHINGTON:]
Son
[WASHINGTON & COMPANY:]
We are outgunned, outmanned!
[HAMILTON:]
You need all the help you can get
I have some friends. Laurens, Mulligan
Marquis de Lafayette, okay, what else?
[WASHINGTON & COMPANY:]
Outnumbered, outplanned!
[HAMILTON:]
We'll need some spies on the inside
Some King's men who might let some things slide
[HAMILTON (COMPANY) {ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY/WOMEN}:]
(Boom!) I'll write to Congress and tell 'em we need supplies, you rally the guys {Whoa, whoa, whoa...}
Master the element of surprise
(Boom!) I'll rise above my station, organize your information, 'til we rise to the occasion of our new nation. Sir! {Whoa, whoa, whoa...}
[ENSEMBLE:]
Here comes the General!
[HAMILTON:]
Rise up!
[LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN:]
What?
[ENSEMBLE:]
Here comes the General!
[HAMILTON/SCHUYLER SISTERS/WOMEN:]
Rise up!
[LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN:]
What?
[ENSEMBLE:]
Here comes the General!
[HAMILTON/SCHUYLER SISTERS:]
Rise up!
[LAURENS/LAFAYETTE/MULLIGAN:]
What?
[COMPANY:]
Here comes the General!
[HAMILTON:]
What?
[WASHINGTON:]
And his right hand man!
[COMPANY:]
Boom!