CEmC
It's knowing that your door is always open
EmDm
and your path is free to walk.
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
GCEmCEm
rolled up and stashed behind your couch.
CEmC
And it's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten
Em
words and bonds..
CEmDm
and the ink stains that have dried up on some line..
that keeps you in the back roads by the rivers
of my memory..
GCEmCEm
that keeps you ever gentle on my mind.
CEmC
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planted on
EmDm
their columns now, that binds me.
Or something that somebody said because they thought
GCEmCEm
we fit together, walking.
CEm
It's just knowing that the world will not be
CEmCEm
cursing or forgiving when I walk along some railroad track
Dm
and find...
that you're moving on the back roads by the rivers of my memory..
GCEmCEm
and for hours you're just gentle on my mind.
DbFmDb
Well, I dip my cup of soup back from the gurgling crackling
FmEbm
caldron in some train yard.
My beard a roughening coal pile and a dirty hat pulled low
AbDbFmDbFm
across my face.
DbFmDbFm
Through cupped hands round a tin can..I pretend I hold you to my
Ebm
breast and find...
that you're waving from the back roads, by the river of my memory,
AbDb
ever smiling ever gentle on my mind.
This arrangement for the song is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the song. You may only use this for private study, scholarship, or research.