If you could read my mind has always been my favorite song of all times. I have always loved the tenderness and the emotion that the harmonies and strings drum up. Tonight, on my 20th wedding aniversary,myhusand tellsme his interpretationof the songis that his love interest is the one who doesn't love him and he can't be set free because of his feelings for her.I have always interpreted the song to say that he is confused by his feelings about her. He feels great tenderness, but recognizes he doesn't love her. This is why "heroes often fail" and why "you won't read that book again, because the endings just too hard to take".
Does anyone have any thoughts? Has anyone ever heard his explanation of the song? I'm dying now to know!
Thanks

If You Could Read My Mind, is such a great song. I too have often wondered about the meaning of that song. I always thought it was about Both the man and woman in their romance loosing their feelings of love and wondering how or why,and what to do about their feelings. Randy

In SONGBOOK, Lightfoot explains - "It's about the failure of a marriage. No matter how much it stung, you had to keep on writing tunes. It's about peace through acceptance. It's one song he's played in every concert. It's stood the test of time and I never get tired doing it."