Intro | C | % | Verse 1 C Em/B Am7 It's knowin' that your door is always open C/G Dm And your path is free to walk Dm C#aug Dm7/C That makes me tend to keep my sleeping bag rolled up G C And stashed behind your couch C Em/B And it's knowin' I'm not shackled Am7 C/G By forgotten words and bonds C Dm And the ink stains that have dried upon some line Dm C#aug That keeps you in the back roads Dm7/C G By the rivers of my memory Dm G C That keeps you ever gentle on my mind Verse 2 C Em/B It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy Am7 C/G Dm Planted on their columns now that bind me Dm C#aug Dm7/C Or something that somebody said because G C They thought we fit together walkin' C Em/B It's just knowing that the world Am7 C/G Will not be cursing or forgiving C Dm When I walk along some railroad track and find Dm C#aug That you're movin' on the back roads Dm7/C G By the rivers of my memory Dm G C And for hours you're just gentle on my mind Verse 3 C Em/B Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines Am7 C/G Dm And the junkyards and the highways come between us Dm C#aug Dm7/C And some other woman's cryin' to her mother G C 'Cause she turned and I was gone C Em/B I still might run in silence Am7 C/G Tears of joy might stain my face C Dm And the summer sun might burn me till I'm blind Dm C#aug But not to where I cannot see Dm7/C G You walkin' on the back roads Dm G C By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind Verse 4 C Em/B I dip my cup of soup back Am7 C/G Dm From a gurglin' cracklin' cauldron in some train yard Dm C#aug My beard a rustlin' coal pile Dm7/C G C And a dirty hat pulled low across my face C Em/B Through cupped hands 'round a tin can Am7 C/G Dm I pretend to hold you to my breast and find Dm C#aug That you're waitin' from the back roads Dm7/C G By the rivers of my memory Dm G C Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind Outro | C | % | (repeat and fade)