Gentle On My Mind Chords by John Hartford

[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It's knowing [Em] that your door is always [Am] open [Gm] and your path [Dm] is free to walk _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ That makes me tend to leave my [Cm] sleeping bag [G] rolled up and [C] stashed behind your couch _ _ _ _
_ And it's knowing I'm not [G] shackled [Am] by forgotten [C] words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried [G] upon some [Dm] line
_ _ _ _ _ [G] That keeps you [C] in the back roads by the rivers of my memory
[G] That keeps you ever gentle [C] on my mind _ _
_ _ It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planted on their columns now that [Dm] binds me _
_ _ _ [G] Or something that somebody said because they thought we fit [C] together walking _ _
_ _ _ It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving
When I walk along some railroad [Dm] track and find _ _ _ _ _
[G] That you're moving on the [C#] back roads by [G] the rivers of my memory
And for hours you're just [C] gentle on my mind
_ _ _ _ _ Though the wheat fields and the closed lines and the junkyards and the highways come [Dm] between us
_ _ _ _ [G] And some other woman crying [Cm] to her mother [G] cause she turned and [C] I was gone
I _ _ _ _ still might run in silence, [Am] tears of joy might [C] stain my face
And a summer sun might burn me [Gm] till I'm [Dm] blind
But _ _ _ [G] not to where I cannot see you walking on the back roads by the rivers flowing gentle on [C] my mind _ _ _ _
I dip my [Em] cup of soup back from [Am] the gurgling [C]
crackling cauldron in some train [Dm] yard _ _ _
_ [Gm] My beard a [G] roughening coal [D] pile and a dirty [G] hat pulled low [C] across my face _ _ _ _
_ _ Through cupped hands round a tin can I pretend to hold you to my breast and [Dm] find _ _
_ _ [G] That you're waving from [C#] the back [C] roads by the rivers of my memory
Ever [G] smiling, ever [C] gentle on my mind _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ [C] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _