Well it's knowin'
that your door is always open
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave
my sleepin' bag rolled up and
stashed behind your couch
And it's knowin'
I'm not shackled by
forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains
that have dried upon some line
That keeps you
on the backroads
By the rivers of my memory
That keeps you ever
gentle on my mind
It's not clingin'
to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns
now that bind me
Or somethin' that
somebody said
Because they thought
we fit together walkin'
It's just knowin' that the world
will not be cursin' or forgivin'
When I walk along some
railroad track and find
That you're movin'
on the backroads
By the rivers of my memory
And for hours you're just
gentle on my mind
Though the wheat fields
and the clotheslines
And the junkyards and the
highways come between us
And some other woman's
cryin' to her mother
'Cause she turned
and I was gone
Oo I still might run in silence
Tears of joy
might stain my face
And the summer sun might
burn me 'til I'm blind
Oh but not to where I cannot
see walkin' on the backroads
By the rivers flowin'
gentle on my mind
I dip my cup of soup back
from a gurglin' cracklin'
caldron in some train yard
My beard a-rustlin'
A cold towel
A dirty hat pulled low
across my face yeah
Through cupped hands
'round the tin can
I pretend to hold you
to my breast and find
Oh oh oh that you're waitin'
from the backroads
By the rivers of my memories
Ever smilin'
Ever gentle on my mind
Gentle on my mind
You are gentle on my mind
Oo oo oo
Yeah