4/4 bright tempo
Cmaj7
Cmaj7
It's
knowing that your door is always open
Am7 Dm7
And
your path is free to walk
Dm7 Aaug
That
makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
Dm7
G7 Cmaj7
Rolled
up and stashed behind your couch
Cmaj7
And
it's knowing I'm not shackled
Cmaj7
By
forgotten words and bonds
Am7 Dm7
And
the ink stains that are dried up on some line
Dm7
That
keeps you in the back roads
Dm7 G7
By
the rivers of my memory
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 G
And
keeps you ever gentle on my mind
Cmaj7
It's
not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Cmaj7 Dm7
Planted
on their columns now that bind me
Dm7 Aaug
Or
something that somebody said
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
Because
they thought we fit together walking
Cmaj7
It's
just knowing that the world
Cmaj7
Will
not be cursing or forgiving
Am7 Dm7 Am7
When
I walk along some railroad track and find
Dm7 Aaug
That
you're moving on the back roads
Dm7 G7
By
the rivers of my memory
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
And
for hours you're just gentle on my mind
Cmaj7
Though
the wheat fields and the clothes lines
Cmaj7 Am7 Dm7
And
the junkyards and the highways come between us
Dm7 Aaug
And
some other woman's crying to her mother
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
Cause
she turned and I was gone
Cmaj7
I
still might run in silence
Cmaj7
Tears
of joy might stain my face
Am7 Dm7 Am7
And
the summer sun might burn me ‘til I'm blind
Dm7
But
not to where I cannot see
Dm7
G7
You
walking on the back roads
Dm7
Cmaj7
By
the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
Cmaj7
I
dip my cup of soup back from a gurgling,
Am7 Dm7
crackling
cauldron, in some train yard
Dm7 Aaug
My
beard a roughening coal pile
Dm7
G7 Cmaj7
And
a dirty hat pulled low across my face
Cmaj7
Through
cupped hands 'round a tin can
Am7 Dm7
I
pretend to hold you to my breast and find
Dm7
That
you're waivin’ from the back roads
Dm7 G7
By
the rivers of my memories
Dm7 G7
Cmaj7
Ever
smiling, ever gentle on my mind