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# this file is the author’s own work and represents their interpretation of the #
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paradise chords
john prine ( 1971 )

capo ii or open D G A7

C

C F C
when i was a child my family would travel ,
G7 C
down to western kentucky where my parents were born
F C
and there’s a backwards old town that’s often remembered ,
G7 C
so many times that my memories are worn .

C F C
and Daddy won’t you take me back to muhlenberg county ,
G7 C
down by the green river where paradise lay
F C
well , i’m sorry my son , but you’re too late in asking ,
G7 C
mr . peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

C F C
well , sometimes we’d travel right down the green river ,
G7 C
to the abandoned old prison down by adrie hill
F C
where the air smelled like snakes and we’d shoot with our pistols ,
G7 C
but empty pop bottles was all we would kill .

C F C
and Daddy won’t you take me back to muhlenberg county ,
G7 C
down by the green river where paradise lay
F C
well , i’m sorry my son , but you’re too late in asking ,
G7 C
mr . peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

C F C
then the coal company came with the world’s largest shovel ,
G7 C
and they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
F C
well , they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken ,
G7 C
then they wrote it all down as the progress of man .

C F C
and Daddy won’t you take me back to muhlenberg county ,
G7 C
down by the green river where paradise lay
F C
well , i’m sorry my son , but you’re too late in asking ,
G7 C
mr . peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

C F C
when i die let my ashes float down the green river ,
G7 C
let my soul roll on up to the rochester dam
F C
i’ll be halfway to heaven with paradise waitin’ ,
G7 C
just five miles away from wherever i Am .

C F C
and Daddy won’t you take me back to muhlenberg county ,
G7 C
down by the green river where paradise lay
F C
well , i’m sorry my son , but you’re too late in asking ,
G7 C
mr . peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

set8