[Verse]
             
When I was a c

             
hild my family

       
 would travel
              
Down to wester

              
n Kentucky whe

             
re my parents 

     
were born
              
There's a back

              
wards old town

             
 that's often 

    
remembered
              
So many times 

             
that my memori

       
es are worn

              
And daddy won'

             
t you take me 

          
back to Muhlen

berg County
              
Down by the Gr

              
een River wher

          
e Paradise lay
              
Well I'm sorry

              
 my son but yo

             
u're too late 

   
in asking
              
Mister Peabody

              
's coal train 

             
has hauled it 

  
away

             
Well sometimes

              
 we'd travel r

             
ight down the 

      
Green River
              
To the abandon

              
ed old prison 

             
down by Adrie 

 
Hill
              
Where the air 

              
smelled like s

              
nakes and we'd

             
 shoot with ou

  
r pistols
              
But empty pop 

             
bottles was al

           
l we would kil

l

[Chorus]
             
Then the coal 

              
company came w

             
ith the world'

           
s largest shov

el
              
They tortured 

              
the timber and

             
 stripped all 

    
the land
              
Well, they dug

              
 for their coa

             
l till the lan

          
d was forsaken
              
Then they wrot

              
e it all down 

             
as the progres

      
s of man

[Chorus]
             
When I die let

              
 my ashes floa

             
t down the Gre

    
en River
              
Let my soul ro

              
ll on up to th

            
e Rochester da

m
              
I'll be halfwa

              
y to Heaven wi

            
th Paradise wa

iting
              
Just five mile

             
s away from wh

         
erever I am