John Denver Paradise.wmv

When I was a child, my family would travel
Down to western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my mem'ries 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 son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

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

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

And the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they 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 son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

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

Category:

Music

Tags:

• John
• Denver
• Paradise

[Brianchaninov]

Love that fiddle counterpoint!

Splendid song --I like the version at conclusion of "Fire Down Below" movie as well.

[robcas631]

We often hear about weapons of mass destruction. Well folks, we are dumping death into our rivers, lakes and seas One day soon we will have to contend with it. Or rather it will contend with us.

[biglinc1]

@indah007 this song was written in the early 70s by John Prine about a small town in Muhlenberg County, KY (Western KY) along Green River. The song states Peabody Coal "hauled the town away", but actually TVA removed the town in 1967 to build a contraversial coal plant

[beisogni]

This is about a small area in Western Kentucky. I remember always looking for the smoke stacks every time we drove over the bridge crossing the green river when I was a child. Still a beautiful area, but not what it once was (as it says in the song)!

[indah007]

Paradise in New Zealand is back country Queensland where Lord of the Rings was filmed  - peace - that is peace

[meilanfiraga]

Song originally by John Prine. Just had to plug that in there for my fangirlness of the original. XD

[msaranpaa]

@nicholehezebicks but what about the destruction of the land??? that's what this song is about...environmental degradation due to the exploitation on natural resources...

[killingsworth2]

So does my family... Like Loretta Lynn I am a third generation coal miners daughter and my mothers family still owns 91 acres in Paradise!

[killingsworth2]

Sorry but this Paradise in this song is no where near New Zealand .

[cag7401]

check out the I love mountains organization.