If You Could Read My Mind

"If You Could Read My Mind" is a song by Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. It reached number one on Canadian music charts and was his first recording to appear on the American music charts, reaching number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in February 1971. Later in the year it reached number 30 in the UK. Lightfoot has cited his divorce for inspiring the lyrics,[1]  saying they came to him as he was sitting in a vacant Toronto house one summer.[2]

This song first appeared on Lightfoot's 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger. The success of the single led Lightfoot's label, Reprise Records, to retitle the album after the song. The song also reached number one for one week on the Billboard Easy Listening chart,[3]  and was the first of four Lightfoot releases to reach number one.

The song is in A major and uses the subtonic chord.[4]

"If You Could Read My Mind" was the favorite song of porno actor John Holmes. It was used at the end of his biographical 2003 film Wonderland. ==Chart performance == ==Other versions == The song has been covered by many other artists, including Petula Clark, Jack Jones, Joe Dassin, Ultra Nate, Don Williams, Johnny Cash, Duane Steele, Don McLean, Kalan Porter, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Olivia Newton-John, Liza Minnelli, Glen Campbell, Gene Clark, The Spotnicks, Aurora featuring Marcella Detroit, Amber, Gordon Haskell, Vikki Carr, Daliah Lavi, the Mexican Actress/model/singer Isabel Madow covered in Spanish lyrics under the name of "Sí Pudieras Leer Mi Mente", Beckie Menzie and Joe Dassin (in French lyrics "Si tu peux lire en moi"). The covered version by The Spotnicks was adopted as an unofficial theme for the 1972 Summer Olympics [1]
 * The song was covered by Barbra Streisand on her 1970 album, Stoney End.
 * In 1980, Viola Wills peaked at number two for five weeks on the dance/disco charts with a dance version of the song.[6]
 * The house music collective Stars on 54 recorded a version of the song for the 1998 film, 54, reaching number three on the dance charts.[7]

Country music artist Dwight Yoakam performs the song in his live sets on a regular basis.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Holly Cole covers this song on the 2012 album Night

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">It has also been used in motion pictures and television shows, including:


 * Paperback Hero (1973), starring Keir Dullea and Elizabeth Ashley
 * Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
 * 54 (1998) By: *Stars on 54 (Amber, Ultra Naté, and Jocelyn Enriquez)
 * Trigger Happy TV (2000)
 * Wonderland (2003)
 * Cold Case episode Honor (episode 8, season 3, 2005)
 * We Are Marshall (2006)