| Kansas – The Wall Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Livgren wrote the song, but the singer is Steve Walsh. I do not know for sure, but I would not be surprised if this song had something to do with Livgren's decision to become a born again christian. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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To TheToner I really like your very interesting interpretation, but, according to a 2008 interview, it is not what Gordon had in mind. According to what Gordon said in the interview, the song is about his passionate relationship with Cathy Smith. Smith was a groupie, a drug addict, and had, shall we say, "committment problems". She would later become infamous for giving John Belushi the lethal speedball injection (she served 15 months in prison for that). I do think that the line "Sometimes I think it's a shame When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain" is a specific reference to drinking....it works in this song because Gordon was drinking A LOT when he was in a realtionship with Smith. The line "got me feelin' mean" no doubt is a reference to the time he (according to Wikopedia) punched Smith in the face and broke her cheek bone. I think it is interesting that two of Lightfoot's biggest hits, "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Sundown" are sort of "book ends". IYCRMM is about being in a relationship with a woman who has lost interest in sex, and Sundown is about being in a realtionship with a woman who enoys a lot of sex, but if you do not keep a close eye on her, she will stray. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Opinionhead- ignore reply above and -1 rating. This was operator error in trying to respond to orignl. | |
| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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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. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| 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. | |
| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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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. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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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. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Dear Hope and Understanding I respect your enthusiasm for this great work of art and I think we agree on the generalities of the song. Two people are in a relationship. They love and respect each other. One person is happy with the terms of the relationship, but the other (the narrator) is unhappy with the terms of the relationship. The narrator must end the relationship to put an end to the emotional distress he is experiencing. He ends this relationship with a heavy heart……this song has sorrow in the words and voice like almost no other……but he ends the relationship without any regrets………it is something he knows that he must do. But I do disagree with some of your more specific conclusions. First some facts. This song is about GL’s breakup from his first wife (which eventually led to divorce). When GL wrote this song, he was young (31 years old). He had been married for 6 years. He had two very young children (5 & 3 years old) that he cared for very much. He was far from wealthy at the time (If You Could Read My Mind would change that…….that was his first major hit), and I would dare say not in the best shape financially. To understand the meaning of this song, you have to look at it from this context. Given the facts, what is so firmly driving GL to end this relationship has to be a BIG deal. This is not small stuff. This conflict is not just between two adults; the welfare of 2 young children is at stake. Now, just to cite a few examples of why you think he is leaving (and I paraphrase): -He is not sure how to mend the relationship or make his feelings known -He would rather leave than compromise or communicate. -He thinks that there's some other woman out there who will bring out all the good things in him - He won't have to work on the relationship or deal with arguments. I’ll say this…..I am the father of two children (now teenagers)……..and if I had left my kids at that young of an age for the reasons stated above, the last thing I would have done was write a song about it. I would have been far too ashamed. You mentioned GL’s pride was also a factor…….how on earth could GL (or anyone) be proud of that? Not exactly the behavior of a Movie Star, don't you think? So I think your specific conclusions are wrong. Again, this was a bold, thoughtful, and excruciating decision. I think GL is taking action because of something that is concrete, specific, and well understood. He leaves because he knows that there is no chance that it can be resolved. And he knows that if he chooses to stay, it will do more harm than good to his family. Sexual incompatibility is a common reason for marital strife and break up (poke around the internet and see for your self). Simply put, one person’s sex drive is substantially higher than the sex drive of the partner that they committed to. When the drives become too far apart…….one person’s minimal needs exceeds the others maximum tolerance……..the options for compromise are severely limited and usually unacceptable to either party. Often these relationships start out with both having high/compatible sex drives (the honeymoon period), but then one of the parties loses interest…..which causes the other party to fall into depression and emotional distress. Again, poke around on the internet. Plenty of information and examples. Very common. My hypothesis is that this song is about this unfortunate, yet common circumstance. When you test this hypothesis against the lyrics, it easily passes the test. If You Could Read My Mind…….I agree that this title infers that communication is difficult……and you would be hard pressed to find a topic more difficult to discuss than sexual incompatibility. Chains around my feet……..as in the old saying ball and chain……….chain is a common metaphor for the promise that you will have sex only with your spouse. And when the one you made vows to loses interest, keeping those vows is torture. Burned in a 3 way script…….the 3 way script is himself, what his wife was (the Movie Queen) early in the marriage and what his wife has become years later (one much less interested in sex). He is doing the honorable thing by being up front and walking away (many men in this situation lie and cheat). Regarding the enter #2 line…….my interpretation is that in order to save the relationship, she proposes to be the Movie Queen again……..but he knows this would just be an act……he is not interested in obligation sex……….it is time to get real and be true to ourselves. The feelings that you lack……..this one is obvious and I think the biggest clue…….feelings is a euphemism for sexual desire. One more final note……when GL sings the song today, he uses the line: The feelings that WE lack He does this because he is honoring a recent request by his children from the first marriage. They know exactly what he is talking about………the line feelings that you lack is too revealing………it is easy to understand why they are very uncomfortable with that….being constantly reminded that mom could not put out for dad………they need relief; too painful. Anyway, that is my take. I hope it was constructive and helpful. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Don't read any of these posts? Then what is the point of this web site? Dude, people come to this site BECAUSE they are interested in other people's ideas. Folks are in general smart enough to judge what does and what does not make sense. Peace. |
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| Kansas – What's on My Mind Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I heard K. Livgren explain this tune a long time ago on a radio interview. First verse is about a girl who dumped him. Second verse is about his long time (male) best friend. Third verse is about the woman he married. |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song is obviously about a divorce or break up of a long term and deep relationship. On that we have consensus. I think “the EYE” gives a good general break down of the story. Now allow me to add a new twist to this. I think this song is being very specific and delineates the reason for the break up: although they both love and care for each other, she is no longer interested in having sex with him (or anyone else, I assume), and he cannot live his life this way indefinitely. She loves and adores the narrator. She has romantic affection for him (that is different than sexual attraction). He is her “hero” in her “paperback novel”. She has an unrealistic romantic outlook and expectation (“just like a paperback novel, the kind that the drugstores sell”) that he will always be with her unconditionally. The key phrase of the song, IMO, is “the feelings that you lack”, and I think the “feelings” are sexual attraction. If he is someone she loves and adores, what else could those “feelings” be? I do not think this song is about a difference in attitude with respect to religion, raising children, money, etc. And the thought probably does not even enter her mind that her lack of interest in sex could be a problem with their relationship But unbeknownst to her, this relationship that has become “non-sexual” tortures his soul. He soldiers on, keeps these feelings to himself, and no one sees it. He is not a “hero” who accepts being celibate because her inner beauty is all that matters. He is a “ghost” with “chains upon his feet” longing to be “set free”. So far, he has been committed to the relationship, but knows he cannot keep this commitment up forever (“But heroes often fail”, “but stories always end”). And when he does inevitably fail (I am assuming he will leave her rather than cheat on her), she will be heart broken, shattering her romantic beliefs (“And you wont read that book again, Because the endings just too hard to take”). Further evidence that she loves and adores him (why else would she be heart broken?). She is just not (or no longer is) interested in sex (again- “the feelings that you lack”) One other note......the line “But the feelings gone, And I just cant get it back” I think implies that at one time their relationship was sexual. He wants her to lust for him as she once did but she just is not in that place anymore. This creates great emotional distress for him. He is the one “burned” in the “three way” (her, the real him, and her belief of who he should be) “script”. Yet another note…….the line “I never thought I could act/feel this way” ………that can mean a number of things: falling out of love with her, being attracted to other women, cheating on her, being short tempered, unfair, or impatient with her, all of the above………. all of these behaviors can be reactions he has to her no longer being interested in being his sexual partner |
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