For the insatiable fans of Hamilton and The Decemberists (and they are legion), Lin-Manuel Miranda and The Decemberists have today announced The Decemberists’ opening salvo, Ben Franklin’s Song, for The Hamildrops. The Hamildrops will consist of new Hamilton content being released every month from now until December 2018.

The Decemberists explain the project thus:

“Well, it happens that Mr. [Lin-Manuel] Miranda reached out to our own Colin Meloy to put music to a set of lyrics that had been written for HAMILTON but had never been used: a first-person introduction to one of the US’s founding fathers, Mr. Benjamin Franklin. Lin said that he’d wanted to include Franklin as a character in the show initially, but it just never quite worked — something about not wanting to remove the audience more than once from the action taking place in our nascent United States. Funnily enough, he said he’d imagined Franklin singing in a sort of Decemberist-y way, whatever that means. FAST FORWARD TO 2016: Lin passed on the lyrics to Colin, who was very much up to the task, and a new song was born: BEN FRANKLIN’S SONG, to be exact. We really like it. It’s very swear-y, but there’s a clean version too.

We hope you like it. It was a lot of fun to write and record. If you’re a HAMILTON fan, we hope it will add a new dimension to the world of the show for you — but you can also just enjoy it as a history lesson. Franklin invented bifocals, you know. And the glass harmonica. WHAT A F***ING GUY.

Yours,
The Decemberists”

Listen below (to the “clean” version) on Spotify or pick your poison HERE. Once again, The Decemberists have acquitted themselves beautifully with Ben Franklin’s Song. The melody and playing are quintessential Decemberists. Miranda’s intelligent, oft-hilarious lyrics are at bottom.

“Electricity
Yeah, you can all thank me
Took some lightning, a kite, and a fat brass key
And they’re putting up streetlights in Gay Paris
You’re welcome from our young nation

I’m the only American the French wanna see
They call me a genius, I can’t disagree
They have guns, they have funds
They can set us free
Invest in my reputation

And do you know who the f I am?
Yeah, do you know who the f I am?
Do you know who the f I am?
I am Poor-Richard’s-Almanack-writing Benjamin Effing Franklin

I said, early to bed, boys, early to rise
They make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
Soldiers are fighting for freedom, they have no supplies
So diplomacy happens at night

John debates at the gates of Versailles
He whines and parades and awaits a reply
As I stay up late with a succulent breast or a thigh
Alright, diplomacy happens at night

And do you know who the f I am?
Yeah, do you know who the f I am?
Do you know who the f I am?
I am 76-and-I’ll-Still-Kick-Your-Ass Effing Franklin

One pain that lingers, the hitch in my stride
Is my son back at home who I could not guide
Who sits all alone in a prison cell on the wrong side
Stands against our young nation

So I play my ambassador part with pride
I am known in the world, and the world is wide
To my children, my sins may be magnified, but I’d
Do it all again, no hesitation

And do you know who the f I am?
Yeah, do you know who the f I am?
Do you know who the f I am?
I am Poor-Richard’s-Almanack-writing Benjamin Effing Franklin

(Do you know who the f I am?) Who the f I am?
(Do you know who the f I am?) Who the f I am?
(Do you know who the f I am?)
I am Poor-Richard’s-Almanack-writing
Polymath, bifocal-wearing
Hardened glass-harmonica-playing
Benjamin Effing Franklin”