Lin Manuel Miranda – Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) lyrics

The battle of Yorktown seventeen-eighty-one

Monsieur Hamilton

Monsieur Lafayette

In command where you belong

How you say, no sweat
We're finally on the field
We’ve had quite a run

Immigrants

We get the job done

So what happens if we win?

I go back to France
I bring freedom to my people if I’m given the chance

We’ll be with you when you do

Go lead your men

See you on the other side

‘Til we meet again, let’s go

I am not throwin’ away my shot
I am not throwin’ away my shot
Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young
Scrappy and hungry
And I’m not throwin’ away my shot
I am not throwin’ away my shot

‘Til the world turns upside down

‘Til the world turns upside down

I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory
This is where it gets me: on my feet
The enemy ahead of me
If this is the end of me, at least I have a friend with me
Weapon in my hand, a command, and my men with me
Then I remember my Eliza’s expecting me
Not only that, my Eliza’s expecting
We gotta go, gotta get the job done
Gotta start a new nation, gotta meet my son
Take the bullets out your gun (what?)

The bullets out your gun (what?)

We move under cover and we move as one
Through the night, we have one shot to live another day
We cannot let a stray gunshot give us away
We will fight up close, seize the moment and stay in it
It’s either that or meet the business end of a bayonet
The code word is ‘Rochambeau,’ dig me?

Rochambeau

You have your orders now, go, man, go
And so the American experiment begins
With my friends all scattered to the winds
Laurens is in South Carolina, redefining brav’ry

We’ll never be free until we end slavery

When we finally drive the British away
Lafayette is there waiting

In Chesapeake Bay

How did we know that this plan would work?
We had a spy on the inside
That’s right

Hercules Mulligan

A tailor spyin’ on the British government
I take their measurements, information and then I smuggle it (up)

To my brother's revolutionary covenant
I’m runnin’ with the Sons of Liberty and I am lovin’ it
See, that’s what happens when you up against the ruffians
We in the shit now, somebody gotta shovel it
Hercules Mulligan, I need no introduction
When you knock me down I get the fuck back up again

Left, right, hold
Go
What
What
What

After a week of fighting, a young man in a red coat stands on a parapet

We lower our guns as he frantically waves a white handkerchief

And just like that, it’s over
We tend to our wounded, we count our dead

Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom

Not yet

We negotiate the terms of surrender
I see George Washington smile
We escort their men out of Yorktown
They stagger home single file
Tens of thousands of people flood the streets
There are screams and church bells ringing
And as our fallen foes retreat
I hear the drinking song they’re singing

The world turned upside down

The world turned upside down
The world turned upside down
The world turned upside down
Down
Down, down, down

Freedom for America, freedom for France

Down, down, down

Gotta start a new nation
Gotta meet my son

Down, down, down

We won

We won

We won

We won

The world turned upside down