If You Could Read My Mind

(album: If Not For You - 1971)

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
About a ghost from a wishing 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 I'm a ghost that you can't 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
The hero often fails
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take

I'll walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three-way script
Enter number two
A movie queen to play the scene
Are bringing all the good things out in me
But for now love, let's be real
I never thought I could act this way
And I've got to say, I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back