Gentle on my mind

Oh, Benny Mart, now

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 have dried upon some lines

That keeps you in the back roads, by the rivers of my memory

And keeps you ever gentle on my mind

Oh, Sam, Sammy Bush

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 cursin' or forgivin'

When I walk along some railroad track and find

That you're wavin' from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory

For hours you're just gentle on my mind

Although the wheat fields and the curled twines

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 back roads

By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind

Take Robin and Buddy Ellins

I dip my cup of soup back from the gurglin'

Cracklin' cauldron in some train yard

My beard a roughenin' coal pile

And a dirty hat pulled low across my face

Through cupped hands 'round a tin can

I pretend to hold you to my breast and find

That you're wavin' from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory

Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind