“If You Could Read My Mind” (Gordon Lightfoot)

In honor of his passing, today’s classic song of the day is 1970’s “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot. This is a wonderful and wonderfully moving tune, brutally honest in its raw emotion, the feeling of its lyrics amplified by its heart-wrenching melody and chord progression. It’s a remarkable piece of music from a remarkable musician.

“If You Could Read My Mind” is a masterful piece of work, one where the melody, chord changes, and lyrics work in perfect harmony. It’s a sad song, a moody song, a breaking-up song. It’s in A major, sort of, with the chords in the verses going from A Major to Em/G, which is a little unusual in that it shifts things from major to minor and gives the tune its unique moodiness. I also like the descending bass-line chords at the end of each verse (I think it’s still the verse; the form is a little spongy), where the lyrics go “I never thought I could act this way and I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it;” the melody just hangs on the D (with the C# pickup) while the chords head down from D to A/C# to Bm7 to E Major. Great chord progression.

If you’re not a musician, that means little to you, but it shows how all the components of a great song have to work together. It’s not just words, but words and melody and chords. And, for the final product, the arrangement (in this case, sparse but effective), production, and performance. This is Mr. Lightfoot’s best composition, and he had a lot of good ones; this one just sticks to your heart and doesn’t let go.

Not surprisingly, the listening public caught on to how great this song was. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It also reached #1 in Canada, no surprise for a homegrown hero.

Gordon Lightfoot was Canada’s premier troubadour, a true poet laureate who paved the way for younger native musicians like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. He was born in the small Ontario down of Orilla and grew up singing in that town’s St. Paul’s United Church choir. As a talented boy soprano, he sang in a variety of local operettas and oratorios, and even got to sing in a Toronto-based vocal competition. After high school he won scholarships to McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and the University of Toronto Faculty of Music.

In 1958, at age 19, he moved to California to study jazz composition and orchestration at Hollywood’s Westlake College of Music. To support himself, he hired himself out as a demo singer and wrote and produced commercial jingles. He stayed in California for two years but eventually got homesick and moved back to Toronto in 1960.

Back in Canada, he hooked up with a local folk group called The Singin’ Swingin’ Eight. He started performing at local Toronto coffeehouses and in 1962 released two singles, both produced by Nashville legend Chet Atkins, that became local hits. He began to travel further afield and started composing. His tunes were recorded by some of the biggest folk artists of the day—both Ian and Sylvia and Peter, Paul and Mary recorded “Early Mornin’ Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me.” He recorded his first album, simply titled Lightfoot!, in 1966, which brought him further success in his homeland and got some notice south of the border.

Mr. Lightfoot’s first big international hit was “If You Could Read My Mind,” in 1970. It was followed by “Sundown” (#1 in 1974), “Carefree Highway” (#10 in 1974), “Rainy Day People” (#26 in 1975), and “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (#2 in 1976). He kept on writing and performing for the rest of his life, even as age and illness diminished his once-golden voice.

I’ve always admired Gordon Lightfoot’s songs; I think he was an extremely talented songwriter with a unique gift for melody. I pretty much wore out the grooves on his Gord’s Gold greatest hits album, which I bought back in college or thereabouts. My wife and I caught him in concert about a decade ago and, even though his voice was shot and it seemed like he had trouble remembering some of his lyrics, it was still a magical experience. The man wrote all those wonderful songs and it was great to hear him perform them live.

Gordon Lightfoot continued to tour up until three weeks prior to his death, when declining health caused him to enter a hospital in Toronto. He passed away on May 1st, 2023, aged 84.