2 thoughts on “Gentle On My Mind”

1. Really nice, especially when they kick in together. John Hartford wrote this song in 20 minutes straight out. Fast writer!

   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 are dried upon some line
   That keeps you in the backroads
   By the rivers of my memory
   It keeps you ever gentle on my mind

   It’s not clingin’ to the rocks and ivy
   Planted on their columns now that bind me
   Or something that somebody said
   Because they thought we fit together walkin’

   It’s just knowing that the world will not be cursing
   Or forgiving when I walk along some railroad track and find
   That you’re movin’ 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’s 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 ’til I’m blind
   But not to where I cannot see you walkin’ on the backroads
   By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind

   I dip my cup of soup back from a gurglin’
   Cracklin’ caldron in some train yard
   My beard a rough’nin’, coal pile
   And a dirty hat pulled low across my face

   Through cupped hands ’round the tin can
   I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
   That you’re waitin’ from the backroads
   By the rivers of my memories
   Ever smilin’ ever gentle on my mind

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   • Thanks for the lyrics, Mitchel. I have to say, though, that although I have been enamored of the Romantic troubadour image since I was young, in reality it turned out generally to be a pretty bad deal for the women involved.

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