With a contract to Mercury Records (1975), McEntire began her professional career singing heavily pop-influenced ballads, a far cry from the neotraditionalist movement she would help lead a few years later.
"I Don't Want To Be A One Night Stand" became her first charting single in 1976. Her first Top 10 hit "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" followed four years later, and in 1982 she scored her first #1 hit with "Can't Even Get The Blues."
Frustrated at her limited commercial success, McEntire left Mercury and signed with MCA Records in 1984. 1984's "Just A Little Love" wasn't much different form her Mercury material and was only moderately successful. However, another album followed later that same year, titled "My Kind of Country." This was a return-to-roots record, complete with fiddles and steel. It was comprised largely of covers of classic country songs, as well as original songs such as "How Blue" and the Harlan Howard-penned "Somebody Should Leave", both of which reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
In the early 1990s McEntire expanded her audience by adopting a softer, more pop-oriented sound. She became one of the best-selling country artists of all time, releasing three volumes of greatest hits collections.
Since that first #1 hit in 1982, she's forked out 21 more chartbusters, which are all recapped on "Reba #1s" released on November 22nd, 2005. The 2-disc compilation features all 22 number one singles (according to Billboard magazine) in chronological order, including two new tracks "You're Gonna Be" and "Love Needs A Holiday." "Reba #1s" also contains 11 singles that reached the #1 spot in publications other than Billboard.
She won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association four times in a row (a record she holds with Martina McBride), and had dozens of Top Ten hits during the 80s. For her contribution to the recording industry, Reba McEntire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 1995, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She is one of only six solo women (others include Shania Twain, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, "Entertainer Of The Year". McEntire continued to hit the charts through the 2000s, as well as appearing in television and film, most notably Tremors, a cult horror movie series, Forever Love, and One Night at McCool's. She also starred as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway, receiving critical acclaim.
From 2001 to 2007, Reba starred in the hit WB television show, Reba (with Texan actor Christopher Rich as her philandering ex-husband), even getting a visit from fellow country star Dolly Parton who played Reba's character's supervisor at a real estate firm.
Read My Mind
Reba McEntire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You want to know what I could be thinking
But as I speak the music starts to play
And the words just somehow slip away
[Chorus]
Read my mind
It will tell you that I love you and
You'd see how I feel
What my head won't let my heart reveal
If only you could read my mind
One look from you and look at me
I'm trembling like a little girl
I tell myself if I can just believe
Any day now you'll fall in love with me
[Chorus]
Tell me if you feel the same way I do
And tell me that I'm not mistakenly taken with you
You're all I ever wanted in a man
You see, all I need is everything you are to me
If you could somehow read my mind
You would see what I can't seem to say
If only you could, if you would read my mind
Read my mind
Reba McEntire's song "Read My Mind" speaks to the feelings of love and vulnerability. The song begins with the assurance that the singer's thoughts are worth only a penny, and yet the request to hear them sets off an internal conflict for the singer. The music starts to play, and the words just somehow slip away, highlighting the singer's struggle to articulate her feelings. The chorus pleads for the recipient of the message to read the singer's mind, to see her love and desire for him. The singer explains that her head won't let her heart reveal her feelings, indicating a deep-seated fear of rejection or vulnerability. The second verse is notable for its admission of the singer's nervousness around the recipient, where she compares herself to a trembling little girl. She repeats the chorus, reinforcing the request for the recipient to somehow be able to read her mind. The final lines of the song sum up the singer's desires and needs, repeating again the hope that the recipient will read her mind.
Overall, "Read My Mind" is a song about the difficulty of expressing one's feelings and the anxiety that comes with vulnerability. It speaks to a universal experience: the desire for someone to understand and reciprocate your love.
Line by Line Meaning
A penny for my thoughts you say
You ask me to share what's on my mind.
You want to know what I could be thinking
You want to understand my thoughts and feelings.
But as I speak the music starts to play
As I try to communicate, my emotions take over.
And the words just somehow slip away
I find it difficult to articulate what I really mean.
Read my mind
If only you could understand me without words.
It will tell you that I love you and
My thoughts are consumed by my love for you, and
You're all I ever wanted in a man
You possess all the qualities I've been searching for.
You'd see how I feel
You would understand the depth of my emotions.
What my head won't let my heart reveal
I struggle to express my true feelings due to fear or doubt.
One look from you and look at me
Your gaze has a powerful effect on me.
I'm trembling like a little girl
I feel vulnerable and overwhelmed in your presence.
I tell myself if I can just believe
If I have faith, my feelings will be reciprocated.
Any day now you'll fall in love with me
I hope that you will develop romantic feelings for me soon.
Tell me if you feel the same way I do
Please let me know if you share my feelings.
And tell me that I'm not mistakenly taken with you
Confirm that my feelings are not misplaced or unfounded.
You see, all I need is everything you are to me
You are my perfect match, my everything.
If you could somehow read my mind
If only you could understand the depths of my emotions without words.
You would see what I can't seem to say
My thoughts and feelings are too complex for me to express verbally.
Read my mind
If only you could understand me without words.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: MELVIN COLEMAN, RICHARD BUTLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind