This song by Gordon Lightfoot has got to be one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded, it will always be in my all time top 10, such emotive words, put into one word "CLASSIC"
I know many great singers have covered this song, but to me no one tops Gordon. The understated way he sings the song, yet with so much emotion. It’s truly beautiful and heartbreaking.
ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL... I'm a writing major, yet I now realize THOSE were the words I was missing. Yes, "achingly beautiful", painfully so, but in a satisfyingly delicious way, like a good orgasm. Thank you, for your comments. Take Care
When I hear this particular version, I feel I have intruded on a confession, a private apology, an ask of forgiveness and the shame and remorse of its denial. It's written in Gordon's face and his lyrics. If You Could Read My Mind transcends perfect.
I'm a 67th yr old black guy from the south. i love this song. just got off from work and was switching channel and this was playing and it brought back some great memories of growing up. love this then and love it even more now! i graduated in 1972
I'm with you there my friend. Your reply made me listen. Just got off from work from a night shift. Sitting in my car and looking up at the night sky. And feeling grateful for your reply. Love the mood this song puts me in. So glad it brings only good calming feelings. A little sad at the same, because it's a reminder of those good days and music like this is gone. Glad you relate
Boyer collection I’m a 60 year old white girl from jersey city NJ and graduated in 1981 and I feel exactly the same as you!! ❤❤❤ hope you are doing well
I'm A White Guys in my 60's The Lady I met in the Early 80's we had one Son Born with A Bad Heart at 9 Yrs of age and several Open Heart Surgeries he received A Transplant and he done Wonderful, but do to NEGLIGENCE of A Cardiologist I went through Grade School he was layed to rest at 28 which was proven could have been prevented , same with his Mom put our Son to rest in 2015 his Mom in 2019 and Black or White " We are supposed to Love one another Regardless " this song brings Tears to this Man in his 60's GOD BLESS
You are 100% correct. The only explanation is that the greatest minds and talents of that era went into the arts, instead of the sciences, developing the art of songwriting and performing to a higher lever than had ever been seen before. The rewards were there to encourage more talented people to follow after them. Today, we have a complete dissolution of the music industry, machines rather than people are making music, the truly gifted don't enter into the profession because by and large, the rewards are no longer there. There is no music business set up to find budding artists, to develop them, allow them to make amazing music. As a result, even the listening public has disappeared. This amazing Gordon Lightfoot song is a prime example that a great song needs nothing beyond a voice and a guitar...everything else is fluff and detracts from the simplicity and beauty of the song itself. Some truly great songs are just like that...pure greatness.
Good comment Mark , and how lucky we are to be able to not just listen but to watch the live performances half a century later ! Who would ever have thought it possible !! Good wishes
Gordon Lightfoot passed today. He left this world a catalog of music to be enjoyed for the rest time. We are so lucky to have lived in the era when you created these masterpieces!
I was a teenager when this song was released. I listened to it endlessly. I was too young to truly comprehend it, but on some level I understood. Now, a half-century later, I've lived it. Thank you, Gordon, for preparing me for one of life's hard lessons. R.I.P.
Red Sheas' guitar seems to lift this absolutely beautiful Lightfoot composition into that place of unbearable lightness. The arrangement here is genius.
Your comment touches me to tears because it was the first sing that brought me to Gordon’s music…and I worry I will lose my only life long music hero. 😢
Jordan Sollitto no matter my mood this song makes everyone who hears it pensive and emotional in the most profound and meaningful way. Words can’t describe the gravity of this song so all I can say is, it’s so incredibly moving and powerful. I love it beyond description.
It is about a perfect song anyone could write. The melody feeds the lyrics and gives them even more feeling then just what the words say. Gordon is a master song writer. People like Bob Dylan look up to your writing it speaks volumes.
His music transcends generations ! I started listening to him when I was 4. He got me started in music and guitar. At the time way too young to understand the depth and meaning in his songs. Now at 40 he is still my favorite ever ! I thank my parents for showing me him.
I saw him live at Vanderbilt gym the fall of this same year with these two sidemen playing in the video. We were all quietly sitting on the floor listening. Except for the thunderous applause that followed every song, you could have heard a pin drop. No one said a word, you didn't have to ask anyone to be quiet. It felt spiritual and communal, like I guess the old Bob Dylan/Joan Baez concerts must have been. I think it will always be the most truly magical concert I have ever attended. We were spellbound by his music and that incredibly lovely voice of his.
It’s a really interesting moment in his vocal progression. Right before he got into the raspier Sundown-era timbre…but I agree- listen to this then the live in ‘74 version, and you’ll see there’s no comparison. Less forced falsetto affectations here, more natural register. Perfect.
RIP dear Gord. Your music has been the soundtrack of my life since I was 13 years old and heard this beautiful song and your incomparable voice for the very first time. Thanks for so sharing your music with us.😢🎵
Gordon is a national treasure. He makes me proud to be Canadian. I consider him one of the 4 pillars of great Canadian songwriters. The other 3 are Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen.
I remember the first time I heard this - I pulled the truck over and turned it up and listened, just gobsmacked. I've been in love with Lightfoot ever since, and that was 40+ years ago.
Few things have ever made me cry. Although I was a youngster in 1974, my home was broken. It's strange, a 7-year old made to feel yearning. But it does happen. I will always love this man, from here to eternity ❤
oh my dear, same .. this song cracked me open at age 8 too, i was watching a funeral of a boy near my school, this song was on the radio.. it haunted me all year xxx
Red Shea's guitar fills here are not only utterly astounding, but musical perfection as well. He's the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar. Nobody is even close to being on the same level as him other than perhaps Maury Muehlisen, Jim Croce's sideman.
I came across this song randomly and heard it for the first time right about the time that I came to Canada in 2001 from Iran. This resonated with me on a deeper level and helped me when I felt a bit lonely dealing with immigration and going to school (BCIT)... Thank you Gordon! Love your work!
not many people sing through soft consonants like he is here. Ns and Ls and Ms, almost humming, punctuating the open vowels. and the way he drops the hard consonants off at the ends of lines...his diction is as amazing as the melody and lyrics, and his projection and dynamics perfectly measured. AND he's holding down the main guitar part at the same time, as if it's all the most natural thing in the world. it's truly masterful, and the song is so gorgeous and heartfelt that it's hard to stop being affected by it long enough to analyze what's going on. just beautiful, and incredible.
I remember walking to school listening to this on my tiny transistor radio in 1971. I was just beginning grade 7 and I was always listening to 1050 CHUM in Toronto. Funny how it brings to my mind a huge, lush green trees and a cool fall morning at a corner I turned everyday. It must have come on the radio when I was right there one day and it was such a haunting melody that it saved that moment. I remember the words "....paperback novel, the kind the drugstore's sell" and I didn't even really know what they were then. I am grateful that both that song, and that moment are linked and stored in that place in me where all the good memories are.
+Sue Umbach We share in the same type of memory. Except for me it was in the eighties. More than likely the same grade too. For you see. The year you first heard it was the same year I was born. Gotta tell ya this song still has a lot of feeling.
I just made that very same comment on another video. This is what was on WJR Detroit radio on cold winter mornings when I was a kid at the kitchen table eating my cereal before going to school. No wonder I was a day-dreamer.
I was a youngster when I first heard this wonderful song and the next time when my family went to a department store that sold 45 rpm records, I bought the single, which I believe that I still have today (I've bought several copies of the single over the years). I can remember at the time, as a kid with a kid's view of love and life, listening to this song over and over hoping that the two lovers could work things out, but knowing that "the feeling's gone and (he) just can't get it back. . ." Nearly fifty years later, it's still one of my very favorite songs. . .
Although English is not my mother tongue, I always feel deeply moved by this song. “I don’t know where we went wrong but the feelings gone and I just can’t get it back”. How sad and true. This man is an authentic troubadour.
This song gives me chills every time I hear it. The strange thing is I don't why. It reaches somewhere beyond the intellect. Maybe that's what makes great music.
This takes me back in time. I had just been discharged from the Navy, purchased a new SS Chevelle, and had a great job. Life was great. How I wish that I could go back in time.
Wow! I never imagined a recording of a live performance of this masterpiece could live up to the brilliance that radiates from the album version. I've searched for live recordings of this, hoping beyond hope to find the most brilliantly composed music, heartbreakingly written lyrics and finely recorded studio work of any sad song in all eternity to be captured on video. This performance, and the fine work of the production staff, captured one man's heart in its purest form. I am very happy and grateful to have found this video!
That is just three people. No drums. And it is sheer perfection. Red Shea provides perfect compliment to this astounding music. There is something about this song that transcends simple comprehension. I think I understand it....but the words and music together make it so much more than a song.
This song (and specifically this version) got me through a tough heartbreak, and for that I’ll be forever grateful to Mr Lightfoot. Put feelings to words and my half of hurt to peace.
RIP. Thank you so very much for this song. Life hasn't been easy on me all the time but I'm proud of what I've made out of it. May God bless all of you riding this.
I listened to this song, hearing it, singing along for the first time in twenty five years, eyes wetter and wetter....a failed marriage. An important song from the sound track of my life. Thank you Gordon for all the great music and memories.
Rest in peace Mr Lightfoot ! I only recently discovered you when my music teacher said you had passed away and playeyed your beautiful songs to my class
this song is so beautiful, to lose someone so beautiful is the hardest thing to take, my heart will always be empty, i lost the love of my life, and will never feel this way again, she was amazing and you know in your heart when its right, life goes on and so it will, but my heart will stand still the day i lost her, always in my thoughts and forever in my heart. x
Amazing voice!! Taking me back to the 70's when my greatest concern was what we were having for supper. As I am watching this great video the world is in the midst of a coronavirus that is infecting and killing many people worldwide. The entire world has changed dramatically for the worse since Mr. Lightfoot performed this wonderful song. Listening to this makes me forget about what is going on and takes me back to those great carefree days!
RIP, Gordon. I was ten when this was performed. Sadness comes over me not only because he has now flown away to perform a song we will never hear, but because a 10-year old cannot turn on the radio today and hear anything even close to this. The early-mid 1970s were a magical time for music. 🙏🏻😞
Absolutely. But I heard it in a school aged 7 while a funeral of a little boy happened in the Welsh chapel opposite. It was my first truly deeply sad moment and could not listen to it for years. Because it is perfection and that makes is sadder somehow ..
This has a simplicity and acoustic arrangement that fitted in nicely with the burgeoning singer/songwriter scene that was storming the airwaves and record shops of the early '70s. 'Read My Mind' has an appeal that crosses genres and ages.
Again listening to this for the thousandth time in my life in each time the meaning grows deeper and the love for it stronger. Easily one of the top 10 songs ever written in history. Thank you Gordon for your contributions
Some things are so perfect they are unbearable to behold. This song burnt through my musical DNA at age 7, on a workman’s radio, outside at school playtime, watching an infant funeral at a little welsh stone chapel opposite. I got an early introduction to intense sadness that day and could not listen to any sad songs after, but I still think it has to be the most perfect love song.
Gordon wrote many many songs.. but this - man - it's in my top 10 songs of all time... every time I hear it...and I'm almost 55...EVERY TIME I HEAR THIS - it brings tears... one of the most underrated singer songwriters of all time....beautiful
This song by Gordon Lightfoot has got to be one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded, it will always be in my all time top 10, such emotive words, put into one word "CLASSIC"
Agree Terry. Out of interest, what are the other songs in your top 10?
So true, Terry.
Perfection
What a great singer he was with his unique voice and wonderful songs. RIP 🕊
"When I hear a Gordon Lightfoot song I wish it would never end"
Bob Dylan
I know many great singers have covered this song, but to me no one tops Gordon. The understated way he sings the song, yet with so much emotion. It’s truly beautiful and heartbreaking.
Some of the most achingly beautiful, tragically melancholy lyrics ever recorded. RIP Gordo and thank you for the music.
ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL...
I'm a writing major, yet I now realize THOSE were the words I was missing. Yes, "achingly beautiful", painfully so, but in a satisfyingly delicious way, like a good orgasm. Thank you, for your comments. Take Care
🤮
@@waynesanchez6504”writing major” 😂
“like a good orgasm” - so edgy
One of the greatest love songs ever written. Lost love is haunting, and this song matches that emptiness. 🇨🇦
Well said.
Playing this on an endless loop....and it will be as good the hundredth time as the first. Truly a masterpiece. RIP Gordon.
This is my neighbour's favourite song, whether he likes it or not
This is your neighbor. You have great taste in music.
Too funny my neighbours must love it too
😃
Yeah, you are right. Two thumbs up. 👍👍
Hilarious 😂😂😂😂😂😂✌❤
When I hear this particular version, I feel I have intruded on a confession, a private apology, an ask of forgiveness and the shame and remorse of its denial. It's written in Gordon's face and his lyrics.
If You Could Read My Mind transcends perfect.
Wow! What A Comment!!! Love It!!!👍😊
@@stevekruse2321 thanks.
Beautifully said. If Gordon’s song didn’t make me cry, your comment did. Peace and love.
Very well said!
I'm a 67th yr old black guy from the south. i love this song. just got off from work and was switching channel and this was playing and it brought back some great memories of growing up. love this then and love it even more now! i graduated in 1972
I’m 20 years your junior but it brings back memories of my childhood in a warm wave that makes me miss everyone. Great song.
I'm with you there my friend. Your reply made me listen. Just got off from work from a night shift. Sitting in my car and looking up at the night sky. And feeling grateful for your reply. Love the mood this song puts me in. So glad it brings only good calming feelings. A little sad at the same, because it's a reminder of those good days and music like this is gone. Glad you relate
Boyer collection I’m a 60 year old white girl from jersey city NJ and graduated in 1981 and I feel exactly the same as you!! ❤❤❤ hope you are doing well
I'm A White Guys in my 60's The Lady I met in the Early 80's we had one Son Born with A Bad Heart at 9 Yrs of age and several Open Heart Surgeries he received A Transplant and he done Wonderful, but do to
NEGLIGENCE of A Cardiologist I went through Grade School he was layed to rest at 28 which was proven could have been prevented , same with his Mom put our Son to rest in 2015 his Mom in 2019 and Black or White
" We are supposed to Love one another Regardless " this song brings Tears to this Man in his 60's GOD BLESS
This music comes from the soul we didn't realize how lucky we were to listen to this on the radio in the 70's
You are 100% correct. The only explanation is that the greatest minds and talents of that era went into the arts, instead of the sciences, developing the art of songwriting and performing to a higher lever than had ever been seen before. The rewards were there to encourage more talented people to follow after them. Today, we have a complete dissolution of the music industry, machines rather than people are making music, the truly gifted don't enter into the profession because by and large, the rewards are no longer there. There is no music business set up to find budding artists, to develop them, allow them to make amazing music. As a result, even the listening public has disappeared. This amazing Gordon Lightfoot song is a prime example that a great song needs nothing beyond a voice and a guitar...everything else is fluff and detracts from the simplicity and beauty of the song itself. Some truly great songs are just like that...pure greatness.
@@spiratustreviso9885 Very well said
Good comment Mark , and how lucky we are to be able to not just listen but to watch the live performances half a century later ! Who would ever have thought it possible !! Good wishes
Amen my Brother from another Mother !! Lucky indeed !!
I remember laying in bed at night as a little girl and hearing
this beautiful song on the radio in the Seventies :-)
Gordon Lightfoot passed today. He left this world a catalog of music to be enjoyed for the rest time. We are so lucky to have lived in the era when you created these masterpieces!
I was a teenager when this song was released. I listened to it endlessly. I was too young to truly comprehend it, but on some level I understood. Now, a half-century later, I've lived it. Thank you, Gordon, for preparing me for one of life's hard lessons. R.I.P.
Red Sheas' guitar seems to lift this absolutely beautiful Lightfoot composition into that place of unbearable lightness. The arrangement here is genius.
Love Your Comment!🌈🌞
I feel the same way when I listen to "Circle of Steel"
Red was the lyrical guitarist that played the perfect counterpart to Gord’s genius songs. An unbeatable combination
Your comment touches me to tears because it was the first sing that brought me to Gordon’s music…and I worry I will lose my only life long music hero. 😢
@@cherixbiggs5819 I feel the same way. Sorry for your lost . His voice, lyrics and music will live on.
This is one of those songs you wish would never end. What a great artist!
First heard this song aged 11. 49 years later it still sounds as good. Great music is timeless.
It doesn't get much better than this. A true gem..
bwtucker2010 boy you said all that can be said. This was pure perfection. His voice, the melody and these haunting lyrics are absolute magic!
you said it, i love him and his music
This guy doesn’t even have to work at staying on pitch. It just so natural. WOW! What a voice.
Define pitch! I'll wait.
This is just about as beautiful an artistic accomplishment as there ever has been. Just staggeringly, astoundingly wonderful.
Jordan Sollitto no matter my mood this song makes everyone who hears it pensive and emotional in the most profound and meaningful way. Words can’t describe the gravity of this song so all I can say is, it’s so incredibly moving and powerful. I love it beyond description.
It is about a perfect song anyone could write. The melody feeds the lyrics and gives them even more feeling then just what the words say. Gordon is a master song writer. People like Bob Dylan look up to your writing it speaks volumes.
Something about him makes me love him dearly. Must be that we have a lot in common.
His music transcends generations ! I started listening to him when I was 4. He got me started in music and guitar. At the time way too young to understand the depth and meaning in his songs. Now at 40 he is still my favorite ever ! I thank my parents for showing me him.
RIP Gordon Lightfoot
If You Could Read My Mind is a timeless masterpiece, and one of the most magnificent and heartfelt love songs ever created.
Yeah, there is a disco version of this song but the original version is the best ❤
I'm a man and I'm not afraid to say that I cry everytime I listen to this great song...
Its perfect.
Me too!
Me too brother. Danielle S... "I will love you till I have my last breath."
Same here
I know what you mean, Canadian Trilogy gets me every time, such a genius wordsmith, best ever I think
John Prine called him "my songwriting hero" good enough for me
So did Bob Dylan, who inducted him into the Rock n Roll hall of fame.
Bob Dylan said if you hear a Gordon Lightfoot song, you wish it would go on forever.
His voice is so beautiful and haunting...
I saw him live at Vanderbilt gym the fall of this same year with these two sidemen playing in the video. We were all quietly sitting on the floor listening. Except for the thunderous applause that followed every song, you could have heard a pin drop. No one said a word, you didn't have to
ask anyone to be quiet. It felt spiritual and communal, like I guess the old Bob Dylan/Joan Baez concerts must have been. I think it will always be the most truly magical concert I have ever attended. We were spellbound by his music and that incredibly lovely voice of his.
A master at work, with incredible sidemen. The most honest breakup song of all time
When singers could actually sing ...live.
Rest in peace, Gordon. Thank you for the music. Today, all of Canada is heartbroken, but we'll remember you through your beautiful music.😔❤️
Same his fans all over the world
His vocals at 32 were so effortless ...... almost 60 now myself ....... I can still recall those times when it was no harder than taking a breath.
My God this is even better than the album track. Gord at his peak vocally.
You are correct. No tricks or tracks or overdubs. Pure music.
It's an incredible live version this one!
It’s a really interesting moment in his vocal progression. Right before he got into the raspier Sundown-era timbre…but I agree- listen to this then the live in ‘74 version, and you’ll see there’s no comparison. Less forced falsetto affectations here, more natural register. Perfect.
This poetry is what truly is music. Emotion. Thank you Gordon, for not letting us forget that in today's world.
This is THE best song of allllll time!!!! The best song - we’ve all felt this
I been listen to song for over 40 yrs! Yet I NEVER get sick.. of hearing it.. 😊🎸🎶
Tears me up. One of the best songs EVER. Loved Gordon Lightfoot.
“Every time I hear a song of his,” Bob Dylan once famously said about Gordon Lightfoot, “it's like I wish it would last forever.”
RIP dear Gord. Your music has been the soundtrack of my life since I was 13 years old and heard this beautiful song and your incomparable voice for the very first time. Thanks for so sharing your music with us.😢🎵
Gordon Lighfoot is a brilliant musician and songwriter...not too many like this anymore
This is just one of the best songs ever. A real Soul song
Gordon’s voice is so powerful and pure that it can melt even a granite heart.
Was.
His voice is terrible now, and it's such a shame hearing him struggle, when he was sooooo good back then.
@@DjNikGnashers nobody escapes Father Time.
@@literallyshaking8019 So true !
Gordon is a national treasure. He makes me proud to be Canadian. I consider him one of the 4 pillars of great Canadian songwriters. The other 3 are Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen.
I agree, let's make 5 with Bruce Cockburn.
Also Robbie Robertson from The Band 🇨🇦
All scorpios
And Burton of course.
Bryan Adams?
That voice, it's rich like honey.
I remember the first time I heard this - I pulled the truck over and turned it up and listened, just gobsmacked. I've been in love with Lightfoot ever since, and that was 40+ years ago.
Canada's greatest craftsman. Thanks for the songs Gordie. Rest in peace.
One of the best songs ever
Love story from a man’s point of view. Never better told than here.
This is absolutely my favorite song! I never get tired of listening to it!
It doesn't get any better than this.One of the prettiest melodies ever.
Few things have ever made me cry. Although I was a youngster in 1974, my home was broken. It's strange, a 7-year old made to feel yearning. But it does happen. I will always love this man, from here to eternity ❤
oh my dear, same .. this song cracked me open at age 8 too, i was watching a funeral of a boy near my school, this song was on the radio.. it haunted me all year xxx
I love his haunting beautiful voice. I think I know every one of his songs by heart. His work on the 12 string is amazing too.
RIP Love and Light Gordan Lightfoot. You and this song are legendary. Thank you, sir.
This has to be the greatest live version of this song out there
Red Shea's guitar fills here are not only utterly astounding, but musical perfection as well. He's the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar. Nobody is even close to being on the same level as him other than perhaps Maury Muehlisen, Jim Croce's sideman.
Not even close. Red is far better than Maury. As is Gord over Jim. As is the whole partnership thing.
No..not Maury..Cockburn is much closer..
I came across this song randomly and heard it for the first time right about the time that I came to Canada in 2001 from Iran. This resonated with me on a deeper level and helped me when I felt a bit lonely dealing with immigration and going to school (BCIT)... Thank you Gordon! Love your work!
What a sincere, beautiful tribute
From one Canadian(Montreal) to another. That’s what it’s all about. Welcome.
Song about his divorce .
not many people sing through soft consonants like he is here. Ns and Ls and Ms, almost humming, punctuating the open vowels. and the way he drops the hard consonants off at the ends of lines...his diction is as amazing as the melody and lyrics, and his projection and dynamics perfectly measured. AND he's holding down the main guitar part at the same time, as if it's all the most natural thing in the world. it's truly masterful, and the song is so gorgeous and heartfelt that it's hard to stop being affected by it long enough to analyze what's going on. just beautiful, and incredible.
Oh yes! So much a part of the beauty if his performances. An unforgettable style all his own. What a loss
A voice from God! He was born to sing and write!❤️❤️❤️
I remember walking to school listening to this on my tiny transistor radio in 1971. I was just beginning grade 7 and I was always listening to 1050 CHUM in Toronto. Funny how it brings to my mind a huge, lush green trees and a cool fall morning at a corner I turned everyday. It must have come on the radio when I was right there one day and it was such a haunting melody that it saved that moment. I remember the words "....paperback novel, the kind the drugstore's sell" and I didn't even really know what they were then. I am grateful that both that song, and that moment are linked and stored in that place in me where all the good memories are.
+Sue Umbach We share in the same type of memory. Except for me it was in the eighties. More than likely the same grade too. For you see. The year you first heard it was the same year I was born. Gotta tell ya this song still has a lot of feeling.
Gordon wrote this in Toronto
I just made that very same comment on another video. This is what was on WJR Detroit radio on cold winter mornings when I was a kid at the kitchen table eating my cereal before going to school. No wonder I was a day-dreamer.
Sue Umbach Well I'm not from that place or time but listening to this song while reading your comment feels like I was there too, nostalgic.
awesome
RIP Gordon Lightfoot. You were a powerhouse of a singer-songwriter. Thank you for all of the wonderful music you created.
I was a youngster when I first heard this wonderful song and the next time when my family went to a department store that sold 45 rpm records, I bought the single, which I believe that I still have today (I've bought several copies of the single over the years). I can remember at the time, as a kid with a kid's view of love and life, listening to this song over and over hoping that the two lovers could work things out, but knowing that "the feeling's gone and (he) just can't get it back. . ."
Nearly fifty years later, it's still one of my very favorite songs. . .
This song brings together world class writing, world class vocals and world class musicianship! One of my all time favorites!!!
Although English is not my mother tongue, I always feel deeply moved by this song. “I don’t know where we went wrong but the feelings gone and I just can’t get it back”. How sad and true. This man is an authentic troubadour.
Just love this older song... sung beautifully, and the guitar accompaniment
A voice touched by God.
Every bloody time! After the 2000th time I still weep at the beauty of this song! Every time!
This song gives me chills every time I hear it. The strange thing is I don't why. It reaches somewhere beyond the intellect. Maybe that's what makes great music.
Me too. I can’t listen to him sing it without tearing up. There is so much pathos, longing, pain, and regret in his voice.
This takes me back in time. I had just been discharged from the Navy, purchased a new SS Chevelle, and had a great job. Life was great. How I wish that I could go back in time.
Good Lord, what a voice!!! Such a perfect song. RIP Mr Lightfoot.
Wow! I never imagined a recording of a live performance of this masterpiece could live up to the brilliance that radiates from the album version. I've searched for live recordings of this, hoping beyond hope to find the most brilliantly composed music, heartbreakingly written lyrics and finely recorded studio work of any sad song in all eternity to be captured on video. This performance, and the fine work of the production staff, captured one man's heart in its purest form. I am very happy and grateful to have found this video!
So true.
Well said.
I was thinking the same thing. This live rendition is perfect.
That is just three people. No drums. And it is sheer perfection. Red Shea provides perfect compliment to this astounding music. There is something about this song that transcends simple comprehension. I think I understand it....but the words and music together make it so much more than a song.
This song (and specifically this version) got me through a tough heartbreak, and for that I’ll be forever grateful to Mr Lightfoot. Put feelings to words and my half of hurt to peace.
Just amazing. Astounding!
1 of the most Beautifully written and sung Song. Man was a legend 😊
RIP. Thank you so very much for this song. Life hasn't been easy on me all the time but I'm proud of what I've made out of it. May God bless all of you riding this.
You take care my friend. Sending good wishes from Australia
Love from Hungary!
Gordon Lightfoot is my favorite artist. There is no one like him anywhere.
Timeless... ❤
I listened to this song, hearing it, singing along for the first time in twenty five years, eyes wetter and wetter....a failed marriage. An important song from the sound track of my life. Thank you Gordon for all the great music and memories.
lightfoot in his prime- best song and best performance he has ever done of it
Rest in peace Mr Lightfoot ! I only recently discovered you when my music teacher said you had passed away and playeyed your beautiful songs to my class
this song is so beautiful, to lose someone so beautiful is the hardest thing to take, my heart will always be empty, i lost the love of my life, and will never feel this way again, she was amazing and you know in your heart when its right, life goes on and so it will, but my heart will stand still the day i lost her, always in my thoughts and forever in my heart. x
That song and "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor both in 1970 were magical.
Amazing voice!! Taking me back to the 70's when my greatest concern was what we were having for supper. As I am watching this great video the world is in the midst of a coronavirus that is infecting and killing many people worldwide. The entire world has changed dramatically for the worse since Mr. Lightfoot performed this wonderful song. Listening to this makes me forget about what is going on and takes me back to those great carefree days!
Only with a few songs can you say Heartache couldn't have been more perfectly written.
This may be the best song ever written!!
“If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.” Shakespeare 12th Night
He is my favorite songwriter I meet him two times 🙂
So beautiful. When he's gone, there will never be another. I had the great good fortune to see him in concert.
So much pain and emotion in his face and performance.
May you rest In peace Gordon Lightfoot. Passed away 1st May 2023. Thank you for the music. 💐
RIP, Gordon. I was ten when this was performed. Sadness comes over me not only because he has now flown away to perform a song we will never hear, but because a 10-year old cannot turn on the radio today and hear anything even close to this. The early-mid 1970s were a magical time for music. 🙏🏻😞
Absolutely. But I heard it in a school aged 7 while a funeral of a little boy happened in the Welsh chapel opposite. It was my first truly deeply sad moment and could not listen to it for years. Because it is perfection and that makes is sadder somehow ..
RIP Mr. Lightfoot - this song is why I learned to play guitar 53 years ago
Excellent comment!
I walk away like a movie star who gets burnt in a three way script...😳
A flawless song in every way!!!
Rest in peace Mr. Lightfoot. Was a fan since I was a kid and will always be. 💖💖💖
This has a simplicity and acoustic arrangement that fitted in nicely with the burgeoning singer/songwriter scene that was storming the airwaves and record shops of the early '70s.
'Read My Mind' has an appeal that crosses genres and ages.
Exquisitely painful.....
Steve Calistro yup this and looking at the rain truly heartbreak in a song
Again listening to this for the thousandth time in my life in each time the meaning grows deeper and the love for it stronger. Easily one of the top 10 songs ever written in history. Thank you Gordon for your contributions
Some things are so perfect they are unbearable to behold. This song burnt through my musical DNA at age 7, on a workman’s radio, outside at school playtime, watching an infant funeral at a little welsh stone chapel opposite. I got an early introduction to intense sadness that day and could not listen to any sad songs after, but I still think it has to be the most perfect love song.
Amazing story..brilliant song
Better than the original by far. Without all those strings and compression, you can really hear how good his voice is.
Gordon wrote many many songs.. but this - man - it's in my top 10 songs of all time... every time I hear it...and I'm almost 55...EVERY TIME I HEAR THIS - it brings tears... one of the most underrated singer songwriters of all time....beautiful
This is the pinnacle of music. An absolutely perfect song, any change to it would make it worse.
Ahh the music of the 70's IMO just the best ever
I have loved this song since it was first released...brilliant x
This song was always in my head but I only found out when he died it was Gordon Lightfoot's. I'm glad I found this song and sad the man died. RIP
RIP to one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century.
How could anyone not like this? The best breakup song ever written. Just an opinion.