D G D When I was a child my family would travel D A D Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born D G D And thereʼs a backwards old town thatʼs often remembered D A D So many times that my memories are worn. D G D And daddy wonʼt you take me back to Muhlenberg County D A D Down by the Green River where Paradise lay D G D Well, Iʼm sorry my son, but youʼre too late in asking D A D Mister Peabodyʼs coal train has hauled it away Well sometimes weʼd travel right down the Green River To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill Where the air smelled like snakes and weʼd shoot with our pistols But empty pop bottles was all we would kill. And daddy wonʼt you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where Paradise lay Well, Iʼm sorry my son, but youʼre too late in asking Mister Peabodyʼs coal train has hauled it away Then the coal company came with the worldʼs 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 wonʼt you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where Paradise lay Well, Iʼm sorry my son, but youʼre too late in asking Mister Peabodyʼs 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 Iʼll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waiting Just five miles away from wherever I am. And daddy wonʼt you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where Paradise lay Well, Iʼm sorry my son, but youʼre too late in asking Mister Peabodyʼs coal train has hauled it away
