[chef] knife ssh --manual-list syntax

hi. i can't seem to get to a happy syntax place when trying to use
--manual-list with knife ssh. below, i'm trying to ssh to 3 nodes. what's the
correct way to wield this?

$ knife ssh -x root 'uptime' --manual-list db01 db02 db03
WARNING: Failed to connect to uptime -- SocketError: getaddrinfo: Name or 
service not known

$ knife ssh --manual-list db01 db02 db03 -x root 'uptime'
db01 bash: db02: command not found

thanks
kallen