Cool, Cool Considerate Men

Lyrics

[DICKINSON] Oh say do you see what I see? Congress sitting here in sweet serenity I could cheer; the reason's clear For the first time in a year Adams isn't here And look, the sun is in the sky A breeze is blowing by, and there's not a single fly I sing hosanna, hosanna [CONGRESS] Hosanna, hosanna [DICKINSON] And it's cool Come ye cool cool conservative men Our like may never be seen again We have land, cash in hand Self-command, future planned Fortune flies, society survives In neatly ordered lives with well-endowered wives [CONGRESS] Come sing hosanna, hosanna [DICKINSON] To our breeding and our banner [CONGRESS] We are cool [DICKINSON] Come ye cool cool considerate set We'll dance together to the same minuet To the right, ever to the right Never to the left, forever to the right Let our creed be never to exceed Regulated speed, no matter what the need Come sing! [CONGRESS] Hosanna, hosanna [DICKINSON] Enblazoned on our banner Is keep [CONGRESS] Cool To the right, ever to the right Never to the left, forever to the right [DICKINSON] Hands attach, tightly latch Everybody match [???] I have a new dispatch(?) (spoken) "From the Commander, army of the United Colonies in New York, dispatch number 1, 158, to the honorable congress, John Hancock, president. Dear sir, I woke this morning to find that General Howe has landed 25,000 British regulars and Hessian mercenaries on Staten Island and that the fleet under the command of his brother Admiral Lord Howe controls not only the Hudson and the east rivers, but New York Harbor, which now looks like all of London afloat. I can no longer, in good conscience withhold from the congress my certainty that the British military object at this time is Philadelphia. Happy should I be if I could see the means of preventing them, but at present I confess I do not. Oh, how I wish I had never seen the Continental Army. I would have done better to retire to the back country and live in a wigwam. Your obedient, G. Washington." [CONGRESS] What we do, we do rationally We never ever go off half-cocked, not we Why begin till we know that we can win [DICKINSON] And if we cannot win why bother to begin? [RUTLEDGE] We say this game's not of our choosing Why should we risk losing? [CONGRESS] We cool, cool men [DICKINSON, spoken] Mr. Hancock, you're a man of property, one of us. Why don't you join us in our minuet? Why do you persist in dancing with John Adams? Good lord, sir, you don't even like him! [HANCOCK] That is true. He annoys me quite a lot. But still I'd rather trot to Mr. Adams' new gavotte [DICKINSON, spoken] Why? For personal glory? For a place in history? Be careful, sir. History will brand him and his followers as traitors [HANCOCK, spoken] Traitors, Mr. Dickinson? To what? The British crown or the British half crown? Fortunately there are not enough men of property in America to dictate policy [DICKINSON, spoken] Perhaps not, but don't forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor and that is why they will follow us... [CONGRESS] To the right, ever to the right Never to the left, forever to the right Where there's gold, a market to behold Tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold [DICKINSON] I sing hosanna, hosanna In a sane and lucid manner We are cool [CONGRESS] We're the cool cool considerate men The likes of which may never be seen again With our land, cash in hand Self-command, future planned And we'll hold to our gold Tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold We say this game's not of our choosing Why should we risk losing? We cool, cool, cool Cool, cool, cool Cool cool men