You'll See Lyrics – Rent

Song Overview

Personal Review

“You'll See” is the moment Rent drops the mask and talks business right to your face; the lyrics volley between a landlord’s deal-making and friends refusing to sell their souls, and the lyrics make the moral stakes snap into focus. A quick snapshot: Benny offers free rent if they kill Maureen’s protest - the bohemians refuse and the fuse to the night’s chaos gets lit.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The song is a brisk parley about power, gentrification, and artistic integrity. Benny, newly moneyed and corporate-minded, dangles a shiny bargain: cancel Maureen’s protest and your rent disappears. Mark and Roger push back, and Collins and Angel tilt the mood with side comments that puncture Benny’s pitch. It’s negotiation-as-rock-theatre, set over a tight groove that feels like a boardroom handshake trying to bully a drum kit.

Stylistically it’s Rent’s rock-operatic blend: pop-rock momentum, spoken asides, and quick-cut ensemble lines. The energy skews upbeat, even taunting, while the message hardens from “consider this offer” to “we won’t be bought.” The emotional arc starts transactional, turns accusatory, and ends with the crew’s unity affirmed by that cheeky closing echo.

Context matters. On stage, “You'll See” lands in Act 1 after “Today 4 U” and before “Tango: Maureen,” where it functions like a hinge between street-level whimsy and the show’s politics. In the 2005 film soundtrack it’s moved earlier, arriving immediately after “Rent,” which sharpens Benny’s role as antagonist and makes the power struggle feel like the night’s first real thesis.

There’s lineage in the writing too: Jonathan Larson workshopped a number called “Do a Little Business” that shares DNA with “You'll See.” That early cut sketched Benny’s transactional charm; the final song keeps the bite and trims the fat.

Production-wise, the 1996 Original Broadway Cast Recording bears Arif Mardin’s radio-savvy polish while retaining downtown grit; the 2005 film soundtrack under Rob Cavallo tightens the rhythm section and trims the scene to a radio-tidy 2:14, accelerating the deal-making feel.

“You'll see, boys.”

That tiny hook holds multitudes: a salesman’s confidence, a threat wrapped as promise, a future cast in someone else’s blueprint. The friends answer with irony - and then a collective shrug: no sale.

“Convince Maureen to cancel her protest.”

Plain language, high stakes. The demand isn’t about money; it’s about silencing a counter-voice. Rent is explicit: speech, space, and survival are bound up with who controls the lot next door.

Creation history

Rent’s development is famously iterative, and “You'll See” evolved across workshops into the album and screen versions audiences know. The 1996 cast album locks it in place in Act 1; the 2005 film moves it up the order; and 2019’s Rent: Live records it again with a new cast, proof the number works in multiple dramaturgical slots without losing its sting.

Verse Highlights

Verse 1

Benny opens with street-brusque orders that signal his new status and callousness. Mark’s documentary voice slides in to frame him like a subject under glass - a cinematic trick Larson uses throughout Rent to rub art against reality. The guitar and keys sit in a clipped rock pulse that feels like a metronome for negotiation.

Chorus

“You'll see” repeats like a brand slogan: promise as pressure. Harmony stacks from Mark, Roger, Collins, and Angel turn it into rejoinder and resistance, a crowd refusing to chant the company line. That’s the joke: he’s got the money, but they’ve got the chorus.

Bridge and tag

As the pitch escalates - studios, condos, guarantees - the music leans forward, then pivots to the bantering gag lines from Angel and Collins that puncture the balloon. The last “We’ll see” lands like a wink and a line in the sand.

Key Facts

• Featured: Taye Diggs (Benny), Adam Pascal (Roger), Anthony Rapp (Mark), Jesse L. Martin (Collins), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel).
• Producer: Arif Mardin on the 1996 Original Broadway Cast Recording; Rob Cavallo on the 2005 film soundtrack.
• Composer/Lyricist: Jonathan Larson.
• Release dates: August 27, 1996 (Original Broadway Cast Recording); September 23, 2005 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
• Genre: Rock musical, pop-rock theatre number.
• Instruments: guitars, bass, drums, keyboards; film band credits include Jamie Muhoberac (keys), Dorian Crozier (drums), Paul Bushnell (bass), Tim Pierce/Greg Suran (guitars).
• Labels: DreamWorks (1996 cast album); Warner Records (2005 film soundtrack).
• Mood: slick, teasing, confrontational.
• Length: 2:57 on OBCR; 2:14 on the 2005 film OST.
• Track #: OBCR Disc 1, Track 11; also recorded for the 2019 Fox Rent: Live soundtrack.
• Language: English.
• Music style: tight rock pulse with spoken asides; quick, cut-scene structure.
• Poetic meter: largely iambic stresses in speech-sung lines, with syncopated interruptions typical of rock recitative.
• © Copyrights: DreamWorks SKG for the 1996 recording; Warner Records for the 2005 soundtrack.

Questions and Answers

Who sings “You'll See” on the original cast album?

Benny, Mark, Roger, Collins, and Angel - performed by Taye Diggs, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia.

Where does “You'll See” sit in the story?

On stage it falls after “Today 4 U” and before “Tango: Maureen”; in the 2005 film release, it arrives right after “Rent,” shifting the conflict forward. >

Was “You'll See” released as a stand-alone single?

No widely documented single release; it appears on the 1996 Original Broadway Cast Recording and the 2005 film soundtrack.

How long is the track?

About 2:57 on the OBCR and 2:14 on the film soundtrack.

Does it connect to Larson’s earlier workshop songs?

Yes. It draws from the workshop number “Do a Little Business,” which helped shape Benny’s transactional edge.

Awards and Chart Positions

While “You'll See” itself didn’t chart, the 1996 Original Broadway Cast Recording entered the Billboard 200 at No. 19 and went on to be certified 2x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA. Rent won the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, setting the larger frame in which the track lives. -->

How to Sing?

Voices and tessituras: Benny sits best for a baritenor with ping in the midrange; Mark is a conversational tenor who pops up for quick interjections; Roger wants rock-tenor bite rather than pure legit; Collins is comfortable baritone; Angel floats light tenor or head-voice quips. Keep the diction crisp - it’s sales patter set to rock.

Tempo and feel: maintain a forward rock pocket and resist dragging when the dialogue intercuts. Think short phrases, clipped consonants, and quick breath resets between asides.

Blend and balance: in the title tag the group layers should sound like a counter-branding jingle. Benny leads with confidence; everyone else answers with knowing harmony. Recordings vary in key and cut length across editions, so pick a published chart that fits your ensemble rather than chasing a single “official” key. }

Songs Exploring Themes of protest, power, and compromise

Power struggles over space and voice are baked into “You'll See.” Here are three kin tracks that spar with similar ideas.

“The World Will Know” - Newsies. Street kids organize against a publisher who owns the presses and the narrative. The lyric is a fist in the air, but the real juice is how the groove locks their resolve into unison. Unlike “You'll See,” which frames a private deal in a tiny room, “The World Will Know” is collective strategy sung in the open air. The lesson carries over: solidarity beats a smooth elevator pitch.

“Do You Hear the People Sing?” - Les Misérables. A rallying cry that turns abstract ideals into marching feet. The melody is pure banner, clean and repeatable, while the lyric invites ownership: your voice, your flag. It’s more earnest and less sardonic than “You'll See,” but both numbers pivot on the power to set terms - who writes the rules, who refuses them.

“Skid Row (Downtown)” - Little Shop of Horrors. Not a protest song, but a portrait of economic gravity: stuck people, shrinking choices. Where “You'll See” shows the velvet glove of gentrification, “Skid Row” shows the street-level cost that makes such deals seductive. The harmonies build empathy rather than rebellion, which makes Seymour’s eventual compromises feel grimly logical.