A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
<< Back to John Prine Song List
Version 1 Version 2 Version 3
Paradise by John Prine
Capo 2
[Verse 1]
C F C
When I was a child my family would travel
C G C
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
C F C
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
C G C
So many times that the memories are worn
[Chorus]
C F C
And Daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
C G C
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
C F C
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
C G C
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
[Verse 2]
C F C
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
C G C
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
C F C
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
C G C
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill
[Chorus]
C F C
And Daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
C G C
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
C F C
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
C G C
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
[Instrumental]
C C F C
C C G C
C C F C
C C G C C C C
[Verse 3]
C F C
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
C G C
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
C F C
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
C G C
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man
[Chorus]
C F C
And Daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
C G C
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
C F C
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
C G C
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
[Verse 4]
C F C
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
C G C
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
C F C
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waiting
C G C
Just five miles away from wherever I am
[Chorus]
C F C
And Daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
C G C
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
C F C
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
C G C
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away