Gentle On My Mind lyrics by Glen Campbell, 14 meanings. Gentle On My Mind explained, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Glen Campbell – Gentle On My Mind lyrics
It's knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch
And it's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry
That keeps you ever gentle on my mind

It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planted on their columns now that bind me
Or something that somebody said because they thought we fit together walking
It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving
When I walk along some railroad track and find
That you're moving on the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

And for hours you're just gentle on my mind

Though the wheat fields and the clotheslines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other woman's crying 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 walking on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind

I dip my cup of of soup back from a gurgling, crackling cauldron in some train yard
My beard a roughened 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 mem'ry
Ever smiling, ever gentle on my mind
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Songwriters: John Hartford
Gentle On My Mind lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Gentle On My Mind meanings Post my meaning

  • U
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    Maybe sometimes being "the lucky one" is being this woman, and not one of all the others she may have even thought she had wanted to be until she finally realized this connection was stronger than any bond, because it just is, even if she tried or wanted to change it. Which she doesn't. Even if this guy is a vagabond now with a dirty hat, a checkered past, and nothing to his name. It doesn't change the fact that he will continue to walk the backroads of her mind for the rest of eternity.
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    The singer is telling of how much he appreciates/loves this particular woman because they have a relationship that is unencumbered. She does not want to hold him against his will he needs to be free and when he decides to see her she is welcoming and understands he will not stay forever but will continue to return to her because she accepts him as he is and accepts that he will not be tied down.
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  • l
    + 12
    Lonesome1
    You could write an essay on this one. Lots of meaning and symbolism. It’s about some old broken-hearted drifter, always was and still is, with nothing left but a memory. Wandering through life, lamenting he lost his dearest friend, not necessarily his lover but his only true love and it was his own fault. He’s got a place for his sleeping bag at her house in case he needs to take off. For whatever reason she’s left this life (rocks and ivy planted on their columns). He remembers when he broke her heart by leaving, too afraid or mixed up to tell her how much he really loves her. Maybe she took her own life because he left? He’s pretty much dropped out of the real world now. Too late to go back and undo the past, he lives in his own lonely grief, her memory is the only thing that makes him smile (tears of joy). Sad story but beautifully told in verse and music. Glen Campbell is underrated. His ability to play guitar was only surpassed by his songwriting.
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    Ranked #16 all time greatest song but I would have to rate it higher. She accepts him and that he will not change. At the same time he is always welcome back knowing it will be only for a short time. Few of us would ever agree to such an arrangement which make this such a powerful song. There are no love letters and no signatures on a marriage license. There are no forgotten promises but still there is the connection that keeps him to constantly think about her.

    To me this is the weakest line in the song and at the same time the most meaningful as there is nothing physical such as a home or family to describe their relationship. Only their love and acceptance of each other and they do not care what anyone else thinks. The whole world can think they are crazy but they do not care.

    He has affairs with other women but he has no feelings for them and leaves them crying or upset or whatever, he does not care. The last part from the wheat fields to the junkyard to the cup of soup being cradled in his hands is one of the most picturesque passages of a song that exists any where. You see him riding the rails looking at the back roads of America carrying nothing with him. Ar night he gathers with the other Bums to try and find food. As he holds the cup of soup in his hands he thinks of his love and why he cannot shake the love he has for her yet why can he not settle down with her.
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  • d
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    dnorman
    This is an amazing song, the lyrics are strong enough to hold as a modern day poem.
    To me it's about the feelings of a guy who's constantly on the move and unable to settle and this lady is the nearest thing he has to a home. No matter how bad things get, she's there, in the back of his mind.
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    One of the "greats" songs. In my opinion he is traveling around the country, maybe a train worker or else. And thinking about his sister or mother. The line "and some other woman crying to her mother cause she turned and I was gone" may refer to not been able of having a steady relationship with anyone and the hassle that goes with the way he's living his life. Families will always be there.
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    IMHO a great song gives you an emotional attachment to it, as if the song was written for you! For me it invokes a fond memory of someone from long ago, for whatever reason it wasn’t meant to be, the years go by quickly and life goes on but there will always be a place to retreat to and smile because your path’s had crossed. Is it fate or just “timing”? Nobody knows, and it doesn’t matter because it is a memory that will alway’s be “gentle on my mind”. Glen Campbell did this great song justice with his style.
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    written by a man and sung by a man, this is not about a platonic relationship. " ...path is free to walk" is a euphemism for her being sexually available to him. that's all that will keep this bum around for a while. selfish men don't think fondly about talking with a woman about a book or a play, they think about a significant sexual encounter especially if it did not require any commitment from them. to me this song doesn't fit a woman, sorry band perry. a woman travelling in that time like this man did would have assaulted and only welcomed around a hobo fire if she was putting out. musically though, it is a pretty song and was well done. for better or worse, many of us have a woman not our wife who comes forward in our memory from time to time for the reasons I stated above.
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    it’s the story, of the 50 years of my life begun in my 20s with a married woman who was in a divorce. I was just in uneducated man do to be drafted, and she’s a nurse headed for the upper echelon of society. through her two marriages a failure, and my three of simply doing the right thing time involved, good even though we interconnected I would never be statue for her children. and so our lives will never connect but she will always be gentle on my mind.
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    This song perfectly captures the thoughts of a man who can see the things he will never have, and accepts it as his fate. He values freedom most and gives his life to living in constantly moving. Where is he going? Perhaps on to some seasonal work,or to revisit a friend, or see something new. Life is a flowing thing, and you never know what might be around the next bend. This could have been written by Walt Whitman,as it fits perfectly with the spirit of Leaves of Grass. Another song with a very similar sentiment is 'Rainy Night in Georgia' by Brook Benton. It's more of a blues style, but just as sweet. Don't know which I like more.
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    To me this song pretty much represents every man and boy who ever chose the hobo life and spent his life trying to find “something” like freedom from society’s restraints. The hobo life that Hartford wrote about is all but gone. I first caught out in 1970 and actual hobo jungles where tramps lived together and shared food and a common culture was fast disappearing even then. Society has abandoned the most vulnerable, and drug addiction and mental illness now characterized people living “on the bum.” I think Hartford’s tramp is remembering the last true friend he had, and loves her, but cannot come in off The Road.
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    We don't know how they came to be apart. Only that, now, they can only be together in frequent memories and dreams. We know that he didn't do her wrong because "the world will not be cursing or forgiving". He might be wandering through a desolate lonely life (a metaphor beautifully illustrating his living without her) because he can't be with her rather than him not being with her because he is a wanderer. The fact that he describes how relationships can develop shackles, and that theirs doesn't have the because they can't be together doesn't mean that he wouldn't commit to her if it were still possible - shackles and all. In either case, he chooses to savor the joy of her memory rather than wallow in the sorrow of her physical absence.
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    To me the song is about a person who is no longer on this earth and the images are of all the things that remind us of them. …..their door was always open and they were fine to let you come and go….but now that they are gone, we have only the road to their house and the images left
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    god i hadnt a clue what the song ment, i could see alot of my self in the meaning of the song, it just came into my mind to research the meaning of the song, it has a lovely beat of backing music it, beatiful music suports it, amazing song, i think Dean Martin does a beatiful version of it, Glen Cambell sings it faster, i prefer Deans Martin version of it
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      Maybe sometimes being "the lucky one" is being this woman, and not one of all the others she may... Read more →
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      The singer is telling of how much he appreciates/loves this particular woman because they have a... Read more →

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