And I will never be set free/
As long as I’m a ghost you can see.
Gordon Lightfoot had a breakup that is not going well. He is a bit of a romantic. He has seen all the love stories and the movies and even though the hero doesn’t always get the girl, he doesn’t remember a story where the hero ends up feeling like this!
He feels discarded. She left him for another man. He is still in her world so he feels entangled and unable to move on. This is not how things are supposed to go. If only she understood.
“If You Could Read My Mind” has melodramatic lyrics but anyone who has felt loss can identify with Lightfoot’s lyrics. His imagery in the song and the extended metaphor of him as a jilted actor in a play is really unique. The sound of the song is a wonderful mix of classic folk and soft rock. Having a great voice and accompanying that with a finger-picking acoustic guitar and strings will always be a win in my book. This is an underrated song about heartbreak.
If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics
If you could read my mind love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
About 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’m a ghost you can 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.
Heroes often fail.
And you won’t read that book again
Because the ending’s just too hard to take.
I 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 lets 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 feelings 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 about a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet,
The story always ends.
And if you read between the lines,
You’ll know that I’m just trying to understand.
The feeling that you left.
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.
Songwriters: Gordon Lightfoot
