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[Verse 1] 

It’s

knowin’ that your [Em/B]door is always open

And your [C/G]path is free to

walk

Dm C#aug Dm7/C

That makes me tend to keep my sleeping bag rolled up

And

stashed behind your couch

And it’s

knowin’ I’m not [Em/B]shackled

By

forgotten words and [C/G]bonds

And the

ink stains that have dried upon some line

Dm C#aug

That keeps you in the back roads

By the [Dm7/C]rivers of my

memory

That

keeps you ever gentle on my mind

[Verse 2] 

It’s not

clingin’ to the [Em/B]rocks and ivy

Planted on their [C/G]columns now that bind me

Dm C#aug Dm7/C

Or something that somebody said because

They thought we

fit together walkin’

It’s just

knowing that the [Em/B]world

Will not be

cursing or for[C/G]giving

When I

walk along some railroad track and find

Dm C#aug

That you’re movin’ on the back roads

By the [Dm7/C]rivers of my

memory

And for

hours you’re just gentle on my mind

[Verse 3] 

Though the

wheat fields and the [Em/B]clothes lines

And the

junkyards and the [C/G]highways come between us

Dm C#aug Dm7/C

And some other woman’s cryin’ to her mother

‘Cause she

turned and I was gone

I

still might run in [Em/B]silence

Tears of

joy might stain my [C/G]face

And the

summer sun might burn me till I’m blind

Dm C#aug

But not to where I cannot see

You [Dm7/C]walkin’ on the

back roads

By the

rivers flowin’ gentle on my mind

[Verse 4] 

I

dip my cup of [Em/B]soup back

From a

gurglin’ cracklin’ [C/G]cauldron in some train yard

Dm C#aug

My beard a rustlin’ coal pile

And a [Dm7/C]dirty hat pulled

low across my face

Through

cupped hands ’round a [Em/B]tin can

I pre

tend to hold you [C/G]to my breast and find

Dm C#aug

That you’re waitin’ from the back roads

By the [Dm7/C]rivers of my

memory

Ever

smilin’, ever gentle on my mind

 

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(repeat and fade)