Same Old Song? Not Really

Drama... This is how I remember growing up. In our culture, theatrics prevail. Our television shows are saturated with melodramatic episodes for public consumption. Our radio is much the same way. Sappy tunes waxing about being in and out of love are played nonstop in most of the stations. I grew up listening and singing to Air Supply, Journey, Jan Ian, Teri Desario, Charlene, Lani Hall, Helen Reddy and the like. I bet that for most people, they might know two, possibly three of those mentioned. Not us. To this day, we hold their melodies close to our hearts.

I try to visit the country I lived for a little bit over two decades every couple of years and each time I'm over there, I can turn on the radio and one channel will almost always be playing the same ditties as if frozen in time. But there's one song which has eluded me until one day I found myself alone and nursing a broken heart. It's called, "If I Could Read Your Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot. I remember waiting for it on the tuner, recording it in a cassette then deciphering the lyrics with fervor. Without a doubt, it tugged my heartstring hard.

I found this haunting melody again in Youtube and I am posting it with the lyrics. Little known fact, I think, is that Bob Dylan said Gordon is one of his favorite songwriters. What's more, Johnny Cash did a cover of this song in his album America V: A Hundred Highways, a testament to what I believe is more than just another heart-rending number.

Weep if you must but enjoy.

If You Could Read My Mind

by Gordon Lightfoot

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 wishin 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 Im a ghost that you cant see

If I could read your mind love

What a tale your thoughts could tell

Just like a paperback novel

The kind that drugstores sell

When you reach the part where the heartaches come

The hero would be me

But heroes often fail

And you wont read that book again

Because the endings just too hard to take

Id 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 Ive got to say that I just dont get it

I dont know where we went wrong

But the feelins gone

And I just cant 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 wishin 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

Youll know that Im just tryin to understand

The feelins that you lack

I never thought I could feel this way

And Ive got to say that I just to get it

I dont know where we went wrong

But the feelins gone

And I just cant get it back