It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy

[LewisJian]

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
Or the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in 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 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 cursing or forgiving
When I walk along some railroad track and find
That you're movin' on the back roads
By the rivers of my memory
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind

What does "it's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planted on their columns now that bind me" in the second stanza in the above mean?"
What's clinging to the rocks? Thanks in advance.

 

[5jj]

Please give us the title and author of those lines.

 

[LewisJian]

Ok. It's an old song named Gentle on My Mind.
https://genius.com/Glen-campbell-gentle-on-my-mind-lyrics

 

[jutfrank]

Have you tried to read it as a cleft sentence?

 

[LewisJian]

Yes, I see eye to eye with you that it's a cleft sentence, but who or what climbing to the rocks?

 

[LewisJian]

Correction: who or what clinging to the rocks,?

 

[jutfrank]

Correction: who or what clinging to the rocks,?

I was suggesting that as is the case with the other cleft sentences, it's the speaker, the voice, the 'I' of the song.

 

[LewisJian]

Thanks, Frank, for the reply.

 

[Barque]

Correction: who or what clinging to the rocks,?

I don't think you should take it too literally. He seems to be saying "There's nothing specific or tangible that binds me to you". I think the "it" in "It's not clinging to the rocks" is a dummy "It", and in the first line too.

Very often singers say something very figurative or metaphorical and you just have to get an impression of what they were thinking. What ivy? What rocks? Only the writer (John Hartford, who's no more with us) and a few others would know for sure.

 

[SoothingDave]

For all we know, the lady's home (the one with the door always open to him) has ivy growing on it. We aren't supposed to understand everything in every song ever written.

You'll frustrate yourself needlessly trying to perfectly understand song lyrics. Sometimes the writers themselves aren't even sure what the words they wrote mean!

 

[LewisJian]

You'll frustrate yourself needlessly trying to perfectly understand song lyrics. Sometimes the writers themselves aren't even sure what the words they wrote mean!

Haha! Then they must be bad songs and can't last for a long time. But the melody of this Gentle on my Mind is really sweet and graceful.

 

[Barque]

Then they must be bad songs and can't last for a long time.

Not necessarily. Some are and some aren't.

But the melody of this Gentle on my Mind is really sweet and graceful.

Melody and words are different. There are songs with inane lyrics but great tunes. And the other way round too which isn't as common.

 

[emsr2d2]

Correction: who or what is clinging to the rocks?