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