Right Hand Man (First Draft) lyrics
by Black Thought
[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]
He's fighting for his life
[ENSEMBLE]
Here comes the General!
[BURR]
George Washington![WASHINGTON]
We are outgunned
Outmanned
Outnumbered
Outplanned
Ayo, we gotta make an all-out stand
Ayo, I’m gonna need a right-hand man.
[ENSEMBLE]
What?
What?
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck![WASHINGTON]
Outgunned
Outmanned
Outnumbered
Outplanned
We gotta make an all-out stand
Ayo, I’m gonna need a right-hand man.
[ENSEMBLE]
What?
What?
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
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
Boom
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]
We are outgunned
Outmanned
Outnumbered
Outplanned
We gotta make an all-out stand
Ayo, I’m gonna need a right-hand man.
[ENSEMBLE]
What?
What?
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
[WASHINGTON (and ENSEMBLE)]
Yo, Admiral Howe's got troops out on the water
32,000 troops in New York harbor
We got 10,000 troops, that makes it harder
When they surround our troops, they're gonna slaughter us and
Boom goes the canon, watch the blood and the sh*t spray and
Boom goes the canon, we're abandoning Kips Bay and
Boom, there's another ship and
Boom, we just lost the southern tip and
Boom, 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 I'd be of tactical assistance
I don't mean to brag but my dad was the
President of Princeton, so
I have some questions, a couple of suggestions
On how to fight instead of fleeing west
[WASHINGTON]
Next!
[BURR]
Wha—
[HAMILTON]
Your excellency, you wanted to see me?
[WASHINGTON]
Alexander Hamilton, come in. Aaron Burr was just leaving
[BURR]
Yes, well, I'm suited to the battlefield, I'd rather let that play out
[WASHINGTON]
Burr?
[BURR]
Sir?
[WASHINGTON]
Close the door on your way out
[BURR, whispered]
What a di*k
[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
We fought together in Trenton, you helped us take the town
Nathaniel Green and Henry Knox both had their eye on you
You turned them both down, I'm wonderin' if I can rely on you
[HAMILTON]
Sir
[WASHINGTON]
Didn't mean to spy on you, but I have seen you 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]
Dyin' is easy, young man, livin' 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[WASHINGTON]
We are outgunned
Outmanned
Outnumbered
Outplanned
You know we have to make an all-out stand
I'm askin' you to be my right-hand man.
[ENSEMBLE]
What?
What?
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!
Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!