Paradise - Jackie DeShannon

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…