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'm 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


Lyrics submitted by karnasaur, edited by rb3868, MuddyG, 42 steps

If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics as written by Gordon Lightfoot

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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If You Could Read My Mind song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    originl- you are dead on. Many people interpret this as a song of regret. It is not. It is a song of sorrow, not regret. Leaving his wife is something he understands that he must (unfortunately) do. He is sad about it and has sympathy for his wife. But leave he must before something worse and regrettable happens.

    KittenThinks- you are close, but not quite.

    While the narrator may have eventually acquired "feelings" for other women (which may be what he is referring to in "I never thought I could act/feel that/this way".....I am not sure), that is not what caused this relationship to fail.

    The most important and powerful words in the song are in the last verse:

    And if you read between the lines You'll know that I'm just trying to understand The feelings that YOU lack

    These lines are so powerful and personal that Lightfoot's (now grown up) children from this broken marriage have requested that he use the line "the feelings that WE lack" (which changes the true meaning of the song, IMO) when he now performs this in concert. Gordon has honored their request. What can you say, he is a great guy. Anyway, this passage is the song's biggest clue about what is going on here.

    Your "movie queen is another woman" explanation almost works. But the narrator is the one who is "burned in a three way script". If the "movie queen" (number 2 in the script) was a mistress or another lover in waiting, then it would be the wife who was burned, not the narrator.

    The correct explanation (which I learned from this forum....this passage always confused me before I discovered this forum) is that the 3 way script involves himself (#1), the woman he dated and married (#2- the movie queen), and the woman his wife became and now is (#3). The third verse is about informing his wife he is leaving and why, and she counter offers to be (or essentially pretends to be) the movie queen again to save the marriage.......and he says "but for now love, let's be real".......in other words, let's stop pretending, this will not work in the long run, you lost your feelings for me, it has taken a long time but I have accepted that, I have now lost my feelings for you, and now it is time for me to move on.

    Below is a guide for some of the key metaphors in the song. With these metaphors understood, this enigmatic song becomes crystal clear

    feelings- sexual interest

    castle dark/fortress strong/chains upon my feet- having a strong libido, but allowing your sex life to be under the control of someone no longer interested in sex

    hero- for the welfare of your children and out of respect for your wife, remaining faithful in a committed relationship with the wife through very challenging circumstances. The hero "fails" when he realizes he can no longer carry the burden of the circumstances.

    So the failure in the relationship is due to incompatible libidos (which may have lead to another woman).

    One thing is for sure.......Gordon Lightfoot (who was on the road quite a bit himself)has much more quality of character than Tiger Woods. Tiger could learn a lot from listening to Lightfoot's music.

    Audiophile65on December 27, 2009   Link

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