Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

The battle of Yorktown

1781

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

I 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, men, 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 spying 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 loving 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)

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