Paradise

When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
There’s a backwards old town that’s often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn
And, daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry, my dear, but you’re too late in asking
Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
The coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
They tortured the timber and stripped all the land
They dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
And wrote it all down as the progress of Man
And, daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry, my dear, but you’re too late in asking
Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
When I die, let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I’ll be halfway to heaven with paradise waiting
I’m five miles away from wherever I am
And, daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry, my dear, but you’re too late in asking
Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
When I die, let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I’ll be halfway to heaven with paradise waiting…