Man of la Mancha (I, Don Quixote) Lyrics
Man of la Mancha (I, Don Quixote)
CERVANTESMay I set the stage? I shall impersonate a man.
Come, enter into my imagination and see him!
His name... Alonso Quijana... a country squire,
no longer young... bony, hollow-faced... eyes
that burn with the fire of inner vision. Being
retired, he has much time for books. He studies
them from morn to night and often through the
night as well. And all he reads oppresses him...
fills him with indignation at man's murderous
ways toward man. And he conceives the strangest
project ever imagined... to become a knight-errant
and sally forth into the world to right all
wrongs. No longer shall he be plain Alonso Quijana...
but a dauntless knight known as -
Don Quixote de La Mancha!
DON QUIXOTE
Hear me now
Oh thou bleak and unbearable world,
Thou art base and debauched as can be;
And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee!
I am I, Don Quixote,
The Lord of La Mancha, ?
My destiny calls and I go,
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward,
Oh whithersoever they blow.
Whithersoever they blow,
Onward to glory I go!
SANCHO PANZA
I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho!
I'll follow my master till the end.
I'll tell all the world proudly
I'm his squire! I'm his friend!
DON QUIXOTE
Hear me, heathens and wizards
And serpents of sin!
All your dastardly doings are past,
For a holy endeavor is now to begin
And virtue shall triumph at last!
(Don Quixote and Sancho Panza mount their horses and set out along a road)
DON QUIXOTE
I am I, Don Quixote,
The Lord of la Mancha,
My destiny calls and I go,
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward,
Oh whithersoever they blow!
SANCHO
I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho!
I'll follow my master till the end.
I'll tell all the world proudly
I'm his squire! I'm his friend!
DON QUIXOTE, SANCHO
Whithersoever they blow,
Onward to glory I {we} go!
At an Inn full of rough men - Muleteers - and rough women
Song Overview
Personal Review
I still remember unwrapping the heavy Kapp LP as a kid—cardboard sleeves that smelled of ink and brass polish—and dropping the needle onto that flamenco-flecked burst of trumpets. Instantly, “Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote)” yanked me into a tilting world where windmills lurk behind every chord. The lyrics bite, boast, and blaze, while Richard Kiley’s baritone keeps stretching skyward like a banner in a Castilian gale. Irving Jacobson fires back with earthy charm; together they make chivalry sound oddly punk. Half a century later the song feels less like nostalgia and more like an espresso shot of reckless idealism—messy, earnest, irresistible.
Song Meaning and Annotations
This number is the show’s self-proclaimed “I Am” salvo—Cervantes literally conjures his alter-ego, then lets Quixote roar his mission statement. The music fuses march-like snare rolls with Andalusian guitar flourishes; you can almost smell dust and oranges. Emotionally, it opens in defiance (“
Hear me now, oh thou bleak and unbearable world!”) then vaults into exhilaration as the wild winds of fortune lift him. Joe Darion’s lyrics lean on biblical diction—“heathens,” “serpents of sin”—to paint Quixote as both prophet and fool.
Song Credits
- Featured: Irving Jacobson, Richard Kiley
- Producer: Michael Kapp
- Composer: Mitch Leigh
- Lyricist: Joe Darion
- Book: Dale Wasserman
- Release Date: December 1965
- Genre: Show Tune / Spanish-inflected Broadway
- Instruments: Flamenco guitars, brass choir, snare drum, bass, reeds
- Label: Kapp Records
- Mood: Defiant, rousing
- Length: 3:07 (Original Cast)
- Track #: 2 (on original cast album)
- Language: English
- Album: Man of La Mancha—Original Broadway Cast Recording
- Music style: Cast recording, flamenco-tinged march
- Poetic meter: Mixed iambic & trochaic bursts
- Copyright © 1965 Tams-Witmark / Leigh-Darion
Songs Exploring Themes of Idealism & Quest
While Quixote trumps about Spain, “The Impossible Dream” (same score) distills that idealism into a prayer—soaring octave lines, softer but just as stubborn.