If You Could Read My Mind
"If You Could Read My Mind" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. Lightfoot wrote the lyrics while he was reflecting on 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] In 2023, Hockey Night in Canada used the song for their year end playoff montage commemorating the Vegas Golden Knights' Stanley Cup win, following Lightfoot's passing.
For the album sometimes known by the same name, see Sit Down Young Stranger."If You Could Read My Mind"
"Poor Little Allison"
December 1970
November 1969
SunWest (Hollywood, California)
3:48
Gordon Lightfoot
Theme[edit]
Lightfoot cited his divorce for inspiring the lyrics.[2] They came to him as he was sitting in a vacant Toronto house one summer.[3] The song compares events in his relationship to a ghost movie and a paperback romance novel. The lyrics include "I don't know where we went wrong. But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back."
At the request of his daughter Ingrid, he performed the lyrics with a slight change: The line "I'm just trying to understand the feelings that you lack" is altered to "I'm just trying to understand the feelings that we lack." Lightfoot said in an interview that the difficulty with writing songs inspired by personal stories is that there is not always the emotional distance and clarity to make lyrical improvements such as the one his daughter suggested.[4]
Composition[edit]
The song is in A major and uses the subtonic chord.[7] According to Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon, the chorus of their song "Save a Prayer" was based on "If You Could Read My Mind".
Format releases[edit]
This song first appeared on Lightfoot's 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger, later renamed If You Could Read My Mind following the song's success.
Chart performance[edit]
On release, the song reached No. 1 on the Canadian Singles Chart and was his first recording to appear in the U.S., reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in February 1971. Later in the year, it reached No. 27 on the Australian singles chart and No. 30 on the United Kingdom's singles chart. The song also reached No. 1 for one week on the Billboard Easy Listening chart,[1] and was the first of four Lightfoot releases to reach No. 1.
Rights infringement legal action[edit]
In 1987, Lightfoot filed a lawsuit against Michael Masser, the composer of Whitney Houston's hit "The Greatest Love of All", alleging plagiarism of 24 bars of "If You Could Read My Mind"; the transitional section that begins "I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow" of the Masser song has the same melody as "I never thought I could act this way and I 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" of Lightfoot's song.
Lightfoot stated that he dropped the lawsuit when he felt it was having a negative effect on the singer Houston because the lawsuit was about the writer and not her.[8] He also said that he did not want people to think that he had stolen his melody from Masser.[9] The case was settled out of court, and Masser issued a public apology.[10]
Other notable cover versions[edit]
A 1980 cover by Viola Wills peaked at No. 2 for five weeks on the dance/disco charts with a dance version of the song[46] and at No. 80 in Australia.[47] Duane Steele reached No. 32 on the Canadian country charts with his version in 1998.[48] Johnny Cash also recorded a version of the song that was released posthumously on his 2006 album American V: A Hundred Highways, which topped the Billboard 200.[49]