Lyrics to
If You Could Read My Mind

This version of If You Could Read My Mind was released by Olivia Newton-John in 1971.

Our Decade Lyrics Olivia Newton-John profile has all of the If You Could Read My Mind lyrics from 1971 and many more songs from the Olivia Newton-John discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Olivia Newton-John or about the 1970s in general.

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

---

Olivia Newton-John has released many songs over the years besides If You Could Read My Mind. Olivia Newton-John released songs from 1970 to 2007 spanning across albums like Toomorrow, If Not For You, Olivia, Let Me Be There, Long Live Love, Have You Never Been Mellow, Clearly Love, Don't Stop Believin', Come On Over, Making A Good Thing Better, Totally Hot, Grease, Xanadu, Physical, Two Of A Kind, Soul Kiss, The Rumour, Warm And Tender, Gaia: One Woman's Journey, Back With A Heart, Sordid Lives, -2, Indigo: Women Of Song, Stronger Than Before, and Christmas Wish. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Olivia Newton-John.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and If You Could Read My Mind by Olivia Newton-John

The lyrics for If You Could Read My Mind are defined as the words making up the song released by Olivia Newton-John in 1971. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to If You Could Read My Mind have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Olivia Newton-John and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to If You Could Read My Mind by Olivia Newton-John if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to If You Could Read My Mind" means the words set to the music of If You Could Read My Mind, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Olivia Newton-John. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to If You Could Read My Mind and the lyrics to If You Could Read My Mind are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Olivia Newton-John who came here looking just for the lyrics to If You Could Read My Mind, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Olivia Newton-John

Visit our Olivia Newton-John profile for more Olivia Newton-John songs, lyrics & info!

)