Gentle On My Mind Lyrics - David Houston

It's knowin' you don't try to buy my freedom 

With some promise made of gold 

That for you my door stays open 

And our love becomes a simple two-way street 

And it's knowin' we're not shackled 

By forgotten words and bonds 

And the ink stains that have dried upon some line 

That keeps you on the back roads 

By the rivers of my memory 

That keeps you ever gentle on my mind 

It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy 

Planted on some column now that binds us 

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 drift in through the market place and find 

That you're movin' on the back roads 

By the rivers of my memory 

For hours you're just gentle on my mind 

Oh the wheat fields and the clothes lines 

And the junkyards and the highways come between us 

And some other woman cryin' to her mother 

'Cause she turned and you were gone 

I still might walk for hours 

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 movin' on the back roads 

By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind 

The shutters creak and Autumn winds 

That make me draw inside myself in silence 

Cross-legged now I sit and watch 

The endless chase of leaves across my garden 

And layin' down my hairbrush 

I lean backward in my window seat and find 

That you're movin' on the back roads 

By the rivers of my memory 

Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind