Paradise

When I was a child, my family would travel
Back to western Kentucky where my parents were born
To a backward old town that I've often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn

And sometimes we'd travel on down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrian's Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill

Daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train done hauled it away

Well, the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
They tortured the timber and stripped all the land
They dug for the coal 'till the land was forsaken
Then wrote it all down to the progress of man

Oh, daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train done 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 waitin'
Five miles away from where ever I am

Oh,daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train done hauled it away

I'm sorry, my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train hauled it away