[Verse 1: Johnny Cash]
Well, 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, 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 backroads by the rivers of my memory
And keeps you ever gentle on my mind

[Verse 2: Johnny Cash with Glen Campbell]
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 cursin' or forgivin'
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

[Verse 3: Johnny Cash]
Though the wheat fields and the coalmines 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

[Verse 4: Johnny Cash with Glen Campbell]
I dip my cup of soup from some gurglin' cracklin' caldron in some trainyard
My beard a roughinin', 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 backroads by the rivers of my memories
Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind