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10 things about Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"

After watching Rick Beato's take on this song it is now pleasantly stuck in my head. What makes this song great...

    1. I remember this song when I was just starting college. So it evokes a lot of memories for me. Feelings more than memories.

    I remember being so taken by this song. Something mysterious about it, so full of images, which is what makes a realy good song or piece of poetry. The lyrics are unexpected meaning every line is a surprise. That element of surprise is what makes good art. A lot of pop songs are just a rehashing of ideas and the words are pedestrian, they are more about producing a sound a vocal sound rather than real feelings and emotions. it is that evocation which makes a great song.

    2. the song seems simple in a way, the melody does not really fill a big range but anything other than this would detract from the song. The song is moody and pensive.

    3. the guitar seems simple but what's great about it is that it is complex

    4. the backing guitar and the fill notes is something that compliments the mood

    5. and in come the strings. Apparently Randy Newman did some of the string arrangements on this album

    6. finding out more info about this song apparently Gordon was going through a divorce at the time. When looking at the song from this angle suddenly it all comes into focus

    7. something about this song evokes dark greens and forests, the words about a ghost from a wishing well and a castle dark, chains upon my feet evokes this gothic sensibility

    8. I can never get tired of listening to this song. this is the sign of really great art. The song came out 40 years ago yet like all really good art, has not aged in the least, it is as good today as it was then.

    9. And each listening I can find something in it that I had not been aware of before

    10. the entire album is full of really great songs like this. Pony Man and Love's Return. When I think of this album I get images of forests, a house in the woods covered with ivy,

    dark but not in a malevolent way, hidden, obscure, mysterious in a Wuthering Heights kind of way

    11. One of the best songs every written. Rick Beato's take on it helped to really open up the song to me. Thank God for people like Rick.

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