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 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 binds me Or somethin’ that somebody said Because they thought we fit together walkin’ It’s just knowin’ that the world Will not be cursing or forgiving When I walk along some railroad track and find That you’re moving 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 cryin’ to her mother ‘Cause she turned and I was gone I still might run in silence Tears of joy might stain my face And the summer sun might burn me till I’m blind But not to where I cannot see You walkin’ on the backroads By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
The shutters creek and autumn winds That makes me draw inside myself in silence Crosslegged now, I sit and watch The endless chase of leaves across my yard And layin’ down my hairbrush I lean back within my window seat and find That your moving on the backroads By the rivers of my memory Every smilin’, ever gentle on my mind
Through cupped hands around a tin can I pretend to hold you to my breast and find That you’re wavin’ from the backroads By the rivers of my memory Ever smilin’, ever gentle on my mind