In 1987, Lightfoot filed a lawsuit against Michael Masser, the composer of Whitney Houston's hit " The Greatest Love of All", alleging plagiarism of 24 bars of "If You Could Read My Mind" the transitional section that begins "I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow" of the Masser song has the same melody as "I never thought I could act this way and I got to say that 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" of Lightfoot's song. 1 for one week on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and was the first of four Lightfoot releases to reach No. 30 on the United Kingdom's singles chart. 27 on the Australian singles chart and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in February 1971. 1 on the Canadian Singles Chart and was his first recording to appear in the U.S., reaching No. This song first appeared on Lightfoot's 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger, later renamed If You Could Read My Mind following the song's success.
Īccording to Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon, the chorus of their song " Save a Prayer" was based on "If You Could Read My Mind". The song is in A major and uses the subtonic chord. The song was produced by Lenny Waronker and Joe Wissert at Sunwest Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with strings arranged by Nick DeCaro.
Gordon Lightfoot (pictured in 2009) wrote and originally recorded the song.
At the request of his daughter Ingrid, he performs the lyrics with a slight change: The line "I'm just trying to understand the feelings that you lack" is altered to "I'm just trying to understand the feelings that we lack." He has said in an interview that the difficulty with writing songs inspired by personal stories is that there is not always the emotional distance and clarity to make lyrical improvements such as the one his daughter suggested. Lightfoot has cited his divorce for inspiring the lyrics, saying they came to him as he was sitting in a vacant Toronto house one summer.