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Right Hand Man

by Lin-Manuel Miranda

on Manuel Miranda - Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015), Hamilton: An American Musical (2015), Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015)

(The company sees a full armada, offstage.)
[COMPANY]
British Admiral Howe's got troops on the water
Thirty-two thousand troops in New York harbor
 
[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!
(George Washington enters, heralded by soldiers.)
[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]
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
 
[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—
 
[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…
(Washington's tent. Burr enters.)
[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
(Burr exits.)
[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]
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
[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!