IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND
GORDON LIGHTFOOT
SONGWRITHER: GORDON LIGHTFOOT
COUNTRY: CANADA
ALBUM: SIT DOWN YOUNG STRANGER
LABEL: REPRISE RECORDS
GENRE: FOLK ROCK
YEAR: 1970
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. CC OOnt (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and
guitarist who achieved international success in folk,
folk-rock,
and country music.
He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's
greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock legend.
Lightfoot's songs, including "For Lovin'
Me", "Early
Morning Rain", "Steel Rail
Blues", "Ribbon of Darkness"—a
number one hit on the U.S. country chart with Marty Robbins's
cover in 1965—and "Black Day in July," about the 1967 Detroit riot,
brought him wide recognition in the 1960s. Canadian chart success with his own
recordings began in 1962 with the Nº. 3 hit "(Remember Me) I'm the
One", followed by recognition and charting abroad in the 1970s. He topped
the US Hot 100 or AC chart with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind"
(1970), "Sundown" (1974); "Carefree
Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People"
(1975), and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
(1976), and had many other hits that appeared in the top 40.
Several of Lightfoot's albums achieved gold and multi-platinum status internationally. His songs have been recorded by renowned
artists such as Elvis Presley,
Johnny Cash,
Hank Williams Jr.,
The Kingston Trio,
Marty Robbins,
George
Hamilton IV, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Neil Young,
Bob Dylan,
Judy Collins,
Barbra Streisand,
Johnny Mathis,
Herb Alpert,
Harry Belafonte,
Scott
Walker, Sarah
McLachlan, Eric
Clapton, John
Mellencamp, Jack
Jones, Bobby Vee,
Roger Whittaker,
Tony Rice,
Peter,
Paul and Mary, Glen Campbell,
The Grateful Dead,
The Irish Rovers,
Nico, Olivia
Newton-John and Paul Weller.
Robbie Robertson of the Band described Lightfoot as "a national treasure". Bob Dylan,
also a Lightfoot fan, called him one of his favorite songwriters and, in an
often-quoted tribute, Dylan observed that when he heard a Lightfoot song he
wished "it would last forever". Lightfoot was a featured musical
performer at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta.
He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Trent
University in Spring 1979 and was made a
Companion of the Order of Canada in May 2003. In November 1997, the Governor General's Performing Arts Award,
Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, was bestowed on Lightfoot. On
February 6, 2012, Lightfoot was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. June of
that year saw his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. On June
6, 2015, Lightfoot received an honorary doctorate of music in his hometown of
Orillia from Lakehead
University.
"If You Could Read My Mind" is a
song by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon
Lightfoot. 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
Sit Down Young Stranger is Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot's
sixth original album and also his best-selling original album. It was released
in 1970 on the Reprise Records label. The album was renamed If You Could Read My Mind shortly
after release, after the song of that title reached number
1 on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada and number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The album itself reached number 12 on the Billboard
200 chart. In Canada, the album was on the charts from April 18, 1970, to
November 27, 1971. It peaked at number 8 on March 13, 1971 after
an earlier peak at number 12 on June 20, 1970. The last 24 weeks were spent in
the 90 numbers except for 2 times back up to 88 and once at 100.
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 that 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 endings just to 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 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.
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