paradise

i checked out a johnny cash 2-disc yesterday at the library and have been enjoying the old school tunes. one in particular was catchy, but told a pretty sad story. it's called "paradise" and is the cover of an old john prine song. it has a bit of a mountain top removal theme. since geoff's been out of town i haven't been paying much attention to the subject of mtr. this was a good reminder of what's going on to land that's so close. and to be mindful of the electricity that we use on a daily basis. in kentucky, 97% of electricity comes from coal. more kentucky mtr facts.

PARADISE by JOHN PRINE

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 Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

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.

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.