Paradise (John Prine song)

"Paradise" is a song written by John Prine. The song is about the impact of coal mining both while in activity and what happens to the area once the coal mining ends. The song references a now-defunct town called Paradise in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The Green River is also an actual river in Kentucky.

Lyrics

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 memories are worn. Chorus:
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 Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill. Chorus Then 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. Chorus 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'
Just five miles away from wherever I am. Chorus

Source: http://www.jpshrine.org/lyrics/songs/jpparadise.html

Cover Versions

• John Denver released a cover of "Paradise" on his 1972 album, Rocky Mountain High.
• Lynn Anderson recorded her version of "Paradise" for her 1976 album, All the King's Horses. The song was also released as a single that year to the Country charts, and peaked at No. 26.