Hey Little Songbird-A Hadestown Story

If It's True/Epic III

A/N In the Hadestown track listing, there are technically two songs which Orpheus sings to try to win over Hades: "If It's True" and "Epic III."  There are several different versions of the album, the best know being the original Anaïs Mitchell concept album and the off-Broadway cast recording, which expands on the story with new songs while leaving some from the original album (namely "Wedding Song", "Flowers," and "If It's True."). I think those songs were part of the off-Broadway production  but they weren't part of the cast recording. Long story short: there is not yet a definitive version of Hadestown. Right now, there's a production underway across the pond in London which will make its way to Broadway in 2019.
The point of this lecture is that "If Its True" is not on the cast album while there's an extended version of "Epic III." I actually prefer "Epic III" to "If It's True." While "If It's True" is meant to be Orpheus's shining moment, I find it to be one of the weaker songs on the album and "Epic III" is stronger on its on.  "If It's True" is pretty much Orpheus being sad about losing his wife and how he can't live without her while "Epic III" is more manipulative and persuasive and I imagine this tactic being more effective with Hades. I also like how the three "Epic"s (all Orpheus solos) build on one another with "Epic III" being the culmination.

Orpheus had always been an outgoing person, who was happiest when performing for people. Stage fright had never been something that he suffered from.
Standing there in front of Hades, he froze up like a statue carved from ice.
"If it's true what say," he sang, "That my love is gone for good. They can take this heart away. They can take this flesh and blood. Take my mouth that kissed her mouth. Take my tongue that sung her praise. Take my arms that used to reach out, in the dark where she lay.
If it's true what they say, then I'll be on my way.
If it's true what they say. If there's nothing to be done. If there's no part to be played. If there's no song to be sung.  Take this voice, take these hands. I can't use them anyway.
Take this music and the memory of the muse from which it came.
If it's true what they say, I'll be on my way. We can all be on our way, if it's true what they say."

Hades stood against his desk with his arms folded. His mouth had tightened into a stern, emotionless crease. He appeared to have been unaffected by the song. But the expression in his eyes had softened to something almost sympathetic.
Persephone swept into the office, lured their by Orpheus's singing. She wore a long black velvet dress and a feathered hat.

"Orpheus," she asked, "Is that you, boy?"
Orpheus did not reply but continued to sing, loud and clear:
"But the ones who tell the lies are the solemnest to swear.
And the ones who load the dice, always say the toss is fair.
And the ones who deal the cards, are the ones who take the tricks.
With their hands over their hearts while we play the game they fix.
And the ones who speak the words, always say it is the last
And no answer will be heard to the question no one asks.
So I ask you as a brother. And I ask you as a friend. And I ask you as a lover. And I ask you once again: Is it true what they say?"
A single tear rolled down Persephone which then lead to an outburst of broken-hearted sobbing. Hades put a hand on his wife's shoulder and glared at the boy.
"Heavy and hard is the heart of the king," Orpheus continued singing, changing over to a new song, "King of iron, king of steel. The heart of the king loves everything, like the hammer loves the nail.
But the heart of a man is a simple one. Small and soft, flesh and blood and all that it loves is a woman. A woman is all that it loves.
And Hades is King of the scythe and the sword. He covers the world in the color of rust. He scrapes the sky and scars the earth and he comes down heavy and hard on us.
But even that hardest of hearts unhardened. Suddenly, when he saw her there. Persephone in her mother's garden. Sun on her shoulders, wind in her hair. The smell of the flowers she held in her hand and the pollen that fell from her fingertips. And suddenly Hades was only a man, with a taste of nectar upon his lips, singing: La la la la la la la...
And what has become of the heart of that man, now that the man is King?
What has become of the heart of that man, now that he has everything?
The more he has, the more he holds,
the greater the weight of the world on his shoulders.
See how he labors beneath that load.
Afraid to look up, and afraid to let go.
And he keeps his head low, and he keeps his back bending.
He grows so afraid that he'll lose what he owns. But what he doesn't know is that what he's defending is already gone.
Where is the treasure inside your chest? Where is your pleasure? Where is your youth? Where is the man with his hat in his hands? Who stands in the garden with nothing to lose, singing:
La la la la la la la..."
Persephone continued to cry. Hades's flinty expression appeared to soften again. Orpheus could almost see the idealistic young man who had run off with Persephone.
"La la la la la la la..." Hades sang.
Persephone stopped sobbing and dried her tears. She took Orpheus's hand and kissed it.
"I'll see what I can do for you," she said, "I'll do what I can to get you your little wife back."
Orpheus took her hand and kissed it.
"Thank you, ma'am," he said.
"Come to the Lethe Hotel at midnight."