If You Could Read My Mind – Song Lyric Sunday – Mind/Think/Brain

If You Could Read My Mind – Song Lyric Sunday – Mind/Think/Brain

***

This week the theme is songs that feature the brain, mind, and think in the lyrics.

Thanks to Jim Adams for hosting this musical challenge each week.

To join in today’s challenge, and also see other entries just click this link below:

https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com/2022/03/26/use-your-noggin/

***

There are quite a few Gordon Lightfoot songs I like, but this one is my favorite. I just like all the words – ghost, dark castles, wishing well, paperback novel – and then the music, and his voice. I guess I never knew what it was about really until I read about it, but it all just comes together to be a super song.

***

From a Wiki article:

“If You Could Read My Mind” is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The lyrics were written when Lightfoot was reflecting upon his own divorce. It reached No. 1 on the Canadian Singles Chart on commercial release in 1970 and charted in several other countries on international release in 1971.^[1]

• One of Lightfoot’s most personal songs, this is about the breakup of his first marriage – a common theme in many of his songs. In the liner notes of his boxed set Songbook, he describes it as “A song about the failure of marriage.”
• Written in 1969, the song has been recorded more than 100 times, first by Lightfoot himself for Sit Down Young Stranger. The album was not a commercial success, but after the song reached #5 on the US singles chart in 1971, the album was renamed after the song and re-released, reaching #12 in the pop charts.

***

“If You Could Read My Mind”, by Gordon Lightfoot, was released in 1970. It was written by Gordon Lightfoot, and is on the Reprise label.

***

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 wishing 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 am a ghost, 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 drugstore sells
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 wishing 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 trying 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

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Gordon Lightfoot

If You Could Read My Mind lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

***

Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

© 2022 BS