"I Have This Friend" did not make it into the final cut of the musical.
Lin-Manuel Miranda feels the tension in the air and he's here to make your day a little brighter. With the U.S. going on an unprecedented lockdown due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which has led to the shutting down of all the nation's professional sports leagues, the shuttering of schools and colleges and the cancellation or postponement of concerts and festivals for an indeterminate period, LMM dropped a little something-something on Thursday night (March 12) to take our minds off the troubles.
“Wish I could send you peace of mind via this app,” Miranda said on Twitter. “Alas. But I can send you music no one’s heard. Here’s a cut Hamilton/Washington tune called 'I Have This Friend.' No one’s heard it, not even Kail.” The previously unheard song from Hamilton features Miranda as Hamilton and Christopher Jackson as George Washington, with Hamilton seeking advice from the prez on dealing with the fallout from his affair with Maria Reynolds.
He further explained on Soundcloud that the released version was "my first draft of the song before The Reynolds Pamphlet. With Hamilton & Washington. I don't think I even showed it to [Hamilton director] Tommy Kail. It would go where 'Hurricane' is now. Stay safe out there. Love you." The loose, jazzy track opens with Hamilton singing over a syncopated drum beat and piano, "I have this friend, he's quite a guy/ He's in a bit of a bind and he needs advice (how can I help you?)/ Not me, this friend, it's a friend he's in the public eye/ Did something wrong and he paid the price, an expensive price/ Made a mistake in his personal life and now it's bleeding over into the professional."
Broadway theaters closed their doors until mid-April on Thursday, which meant the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco productions of the show were shut down, with the latter on ice through late March.
Listen to "I Have This Friend" below.