Gentle On My Mind

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 up on some lines

That keeps you in the back roads, 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 binds 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

Movin' on the back roads, by the rivers of my memory

And for hours, you're just gentle on my mind

Well, I dip my cup of soup back

From the gurglin' cracklin' cauldron in some trainyard

My beard a roughened coal pile

And a dirty hat pulled low across my face

Cupped hands 'round a tin can

I'll pretend I'll hold you to my breast and find

That you're wavin' from the back roads, by the river of my memory

Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind

Ee-ya-da-de-ya-da-da-ya-da-de

Mm-mm