Gordon Lightfoot - IF YOU CAN READ MY MIND
Music means a lot to me. It can easily express emotions, feelings, and states. It is an integral part of my life and there are many situations where listening to music helps me to focus better, create, or maybe just fall asleep faster.
I myself am a lifelong fan of Queen, but I'm not very dedicated. I like all sorts of music. I also really like to think about the content of the words, because putting words to music can be very difficult. Unfortunately, nowadays you can make a hit even if the lyrics are completely stupid, which is a shame. It seems that everyone nowadays focuses only on the chorus and completely ignores the song's lyrics and message.
For today's article I have chosen my absolute top song sung by Gordon Lightfoot.
This Canadian singer-songwriter sadly passed away on May 1, 2023 at the age of 84. His songs have been recorded by dozens of stars such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins. His greatest hits are considered to be If you could read my mind, Carefree highway, Rainy day people, Early morning rain and The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He has a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame.
But I also chose this song because it has its own Czech version, also with interesting lyrics.
As a bonus you can listen to modern version which was played in fantastic movie Studio 54.
You can check both version with lyrics below.
Enjoy
Vashek
Lyrics:
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
Czech version by František Nedvěd
Lyrics:
When I read in your eyes in the morning
Am I a hundred or a hundred and first?
I'm afraid that love will end
♪ I'm afraid it'll last ♪
Then a voice from above will call
And the trumpeter blows his trumpet: Forward
And the years go back
♪ Suddenly it's like you and me ♪
♪ Wild and wonderful nineteen years ♪
When I read in your eyes at night
My only love
♪ When the spark doesn't skip a beat ♪
And falls into your lap
♪ Then a voice from above will call again ♪
♪ I'll swing my sword now ♪
Like Zorro to his son-in-law
Suddenly I'm as well as you
♪ Wild nineteen years old ♪
When the night falls silent and you fall asleep
♪ The moment before the morning ♪
I want to be your Cyrano
And Hamlet and Romeo
And maybe even d'Artagnan
♪ D'Artagnan to be ♪
♪ Under your mane the dream rises ♪
Pierot and Colombine
On the pillow you snooze
For nineteen wild and beautiful years
When running becomes walking
And the walk becomes a step and a step
Waiting for the touch of the muse
Like a stallion for a meal
But the voice from above does not command
Now the world has stopped
Now the world has stopped
No one dreams
That you have eyes like wild honey
♪ Like forest honey ♪
You look at me funny
♪ Wrapped in your shirt ♪
♪ I'm gonna be like you and me again ♪
♪ Wild nineteen years ♪
And here is Studio 54 version