I'll Tell You A Truth Lyrics — Apple Tree, The

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Work: Act Two of The Apple Tree (Broadway, 1966), the segment adapted from Frank R. Stockton.
• Where it lands: Early in the Act Two setup, the Balladeer steps in to frame the fable and its social rules.
• Who drives it: The Balladeer (Larry Blyden on the 1966 cast recording) sets the tone, then the court-and-crowd sound swells around him.
• How it differs by release: Many album editions present it inside the combined track sequence "The Lady or the Tiger? Prelude / Ill Tell You a Truth / Make Way," rather than as a fully separated cut.

The Apple Tree (1966) - stage musical - Non-diegetic. Act Two framing song: the Balladeer enters and pitches the coming story as a cautionary fable, priming the audience for jealousy, status, and public spectacle. It matters because the narrator is not neutral - he is the mood-setter, the wink, and the warning.

"Ill Tell You a Truth" works like a velvet-rope speech outside a noisy club: friendly, quick, and quietly controlling. The lyric sells certainty, but the harmony keeps a little grit under the grin. You get the sense that everyone in this kingdom knows the rules, and the only surprise is who will be crushed by them next.

There is a sly rhythmic push in the phrasing - part storyteller patter, part procession cue. It is the kind of number that makes exposition feel like momentum. The Balladeer is handing out a moral with one hand while the other hand is already guiding your eyes toward the arena doors.

Creation History

Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wrote the score for The Apple Tree as three linked one-act pieces, with Act Two built on Stockton's famous setup-and-uncertainty tale. Licensing notes for the show describe the Balladeer entering with a guitar to introduce the story, which matches how the cast recording presents this moment: direct address, brisk pacing, and a narrator who knows exactly how to hold a room.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Act Two opens in a semi-barbaric kingdom where justice is staged as entertainment. The Balladeer introduces the tale and its emotional engine - love under pressure, jealousy with an audience - before the royal court arrives and the rules of public judgment take center stage.

Song Meaning

The song is a warning dressed as a confident promise. The "truth" being offered is not comfort - it is a rule of human behavior: desire turns sharp when power is watching. The Balladeer makes the lesson sound inevitable, which is precisely how the act turns a romance into a trap. According to Masterworks Broadway album notes, this opening sequence explicitly frames the fable around the dangers of jealousy and love, and the writing leans into that tension from the first line.

Annotations

"Ill tell you a truth."

That line plays like a handshake, but it is also a setup. The narrator is claiming authority before the story earns it, and the act uses that confidence to make the audience lean in. The charm is real, yet it is the kind of charm that sells you something.

"Hard to swallow."

A neat little pivot: the Balladeer admits the message will sting, then keeps moving so you do not linger on the sting. In performance, that speed is the trick - laughter and tension get braided together, so the lesson slides in while the room is still smiling.

The style fusion is classic Bock-Harnick theatre craft with a sharper edge for 1966: conversational lyric lines that ride over disciplined orchestral motion. The emotional arc is quick but clear - genial narrator energy, then a faint chill as the story gears lock into place. If you have heard fables told as entertainment, you know the vibe: the moral arrives early, and the consequences arrive later, right on schedule.

Images and symbols

The central symbol is "truth" as performance. In this world, even wisdom has stage blocking. When the narrator insists he is telling you something real, the act is also showing how easily "real" becomes a costume when a crowd is hungry.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Song: Ill Tell You a Truth
• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of The Apple Tree
• Featured: The Apple Tree Ensemble
• Composer: Jerry Bock
• Lyricist: Sheldon Harnick
• Producer: Cast album producer credit varies by edition; Elliot Lawrence is widely credited as music director and conductor on core discographies
• Release Date: October 23, 1966 (recording date listed in major discographies)
• Genre: Musical theatre
• Instruments: Pit orchestra, ensemble vocals
• Label: Catalog editions appear under Masterworks/Sony lines (original issue details vary by release listing)
• Mood: Wry, cautionary, slightly menacing
• Length: Commonly presented inside a combined track lasting about 4 minutes 13 seconds
• Track #: Often listed as Track 11 on the 1966 cast recording sequence when combined with the prelude and "Make Way"
• Language: English
• Album: The Apple Tree (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: Balladeer-led narrated setup with procession energy
• Poetic meter: Mixed, speech-forward theatre prosody

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this presented as its own track on the classic cast album?

Often it appears inside a combined sequence with the Act Two prelude and "Make Way," depending on the edition and platform listing.

Who sings the Balladeer material on the 1966 recording?

Larry Blyden is credited for the Balladeer role on the original Broadway cast documentation and major discographies.

What is the Balladeer doing, dramatically?

He frames the story like a public lesson, but the framing is slippery: it nudges the audience to enjoy the setup while the act quietly loads the stakes.

What is the core theme stated here?

Jealousy under pressure - love that becomes dangerous once it is watched, judged, and turned into a game.

Is the number diegetic inside the story world?

No. It is presented as narration aimed at the audience, a theatrical device that acts like a spotlight on the fable.

How does it connect to the arena-door concept?

It primes the listener to accept that "choice" will be treated as entertainment, so when the doors arrive, the audience already understands the kingdom's logic.

Why does it feel both comic and tense?

The lyric plays with winking certainty, but the situation it describes is cruel. That mismatch is the point: laughter becomes part of the machine.

What comes immediately after this moment in Act Two?

The court entrance material builds, and the story shifts toward the rules-and-ritual atmosphere of the kingdom.

Is there a reprise later?

Yes. Track listings for the Act Two sequence commonly include an "Ill Tell You a Truth (reprise)" later in the act.

Awards and Chart Positions

This is cast-recording material rather than a pop-chart single, so the measurable milestones sit with the show. The original Broadway production of The Apple Tree earned major Tony recognition, including a win for Barbara Harris, and multiple high-profile nominations. According to IBDB, the original production credits also anchor the Balladeer casting and the 1966 Broadway run details.

Additional Info

The Balladeer is the secret weapon of Act Two. He is not just a narrator, he is a social thermostat. By stating the moral up front, he makes the kingdom feel older than any single character, like tradition itself is singing. That is why the song sticks: it is less a character confession and more a community diagnosis.

On modern platform listings, you can see how the track identity shifts depending on editorial choices: some catalogs foreground the combined sequence title, others surface individual sub-sections in metadata. Masterworks Broadway notes spell out the flow from the prelude into the jealousy warning and then into the ceremonial court entrance, which matches how listeners usually encounter it on recordings.

Key Contributors

Sources

Sources: IBDB production record for The Apple Tree, MTI show synopsis and song list, Masterworks Broadway album notes, MusicBrainz recording session data, Wikipedia show reference, Apple Music album listing, YouTube topic upload and playlist pages