About The Song
If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot is a song released in 1971, as the fifth track on his album “Endless Road”. The song was a hit in the UK, peaking at No. 30 and spending nine weeks on the chart. It reached the number 1 spot on the Adult Contemporary charts in both Canada and the US, and it peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, spending a total of 15 weeks on the chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number 1 on the Top Singles chart, and it also reached number 19 in New Zealand.
The song’s lyrics discuss a character who is reflective and introspective about past relationships. The character paints a vivid picture of the thoughts and emotions they experienced in their romantic past. The use of movie and romantic novel imagery in the song suggests that the character sees their past relationships as like watchable stories, with twists and turns and satisfying resolutions.
Lyrics
If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
'Bout a ghost from a wishin' well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see
If I could read your mind, love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind the drugstores sell
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take
I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three-way script
Enter number two
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me
But for now love, let's be real
I never thought I could act this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back
If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
'Bout a ghost from a wishin' well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
But stories always end
And if you read between the lines
You'll know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelings that you lack
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back
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