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 often remembered
So many times
That my memories are worn
Then 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 companies 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 waiting
Five miles away
From wherever 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