This song appears on three albums, and was first released on the I Want To Live album, and has also been released on The Rocky Mountain Collection and The Country Roads Collection albums.
You've long been on the open road You've been sleepin' in the rain From dirty words and muddy cells You're clothes are soiled and stained But the dirty words, the mud of cells Will soon be judged insane So only stop and rest yourself And you'll be off again
Oh take off your thirsty boots And stay for awhile Your feet are hard and weary From a dusty mile And maybe I can make you laugh And maybe I can try Lookin' for the evening And the morning in your eyes
Then tell me of the ones you saw As far as you could see Across the plains from field to town Marchin' to be free And of the rusted prison gates That tumbled by degree Like laughing children one by one They look like you and me
So take off your thirsty boots And stay for awhile Your feet are hard and weary From a dusty mile And maybe I can make you laugh And maybe I can try Just lookin' for the evening And the morning in your eyes
I know you are no stranger now A crooked rainbow trail From dancing cliffheads shattered sills To slander shackled jails Where the voices drift up from below Its walls are being scaled Yes, all of this, and more my friend Your song SHALL not be failed
