2021 Song Draft- Round 5 Pick 8- Hanspostcard selects: ‘Paradise’- John Prine.

“Paradise” was written and recorded by John Prine fifty years ago for his debut album- the self-titled John Prine. John had written the song for his father. The song is about the town of Paradise, Kentucky where his parents were from. Kentucky is a state its neighbor West Virginia- famous for coal. In the 1960’s the Peabody Coal Company- which Prine sings about in the song came and strip mined the land- and ‘Paradise’ is about the devastation that strip mining did to the land and the town of Paradise. Paradise was a town along the Green River-that was once a trading post. The town no longer exists- as John sings- “Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.’ All that remains of the original town is a small cemetery. I don’t think there is a better song ever written for the environmental movement. Prine sings in the song ‘ When I die let my ashes flow 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.’- John Prine died in the spring of 2020 of Covid. Half of his ashes were buried next to his parents in Chicago- the other half were spread in the Green River as he wished in the song.

‘Paradise’ also works for me by bringing back memories of my childhood. When I was growing up I would regularly go ‘down the river’ with them to where they were from- and where my father grew up. We would visit their siblings- my great aunt’s and uncle’s and one set of grandparents. The song reminds me of those times. I always loved those trips. It was like a trip to another place and time. It has been over 40 years now since I’ve been to those places and while I have traveled through the area fairly often- I have so far resisted the temptation of going to the places I remember as a child. The relatives I knew are all gone. Do the houses and farms they lived on remain? Maybe I just don’t want to know. Things can change a lot in 40 years. If I don’t go back and see- they will remain the same and in a way my grandparents and family members from there are still alive.

Paradise

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 wornAnd 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 Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we’d shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would killAnd 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

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 ’til the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of manAnd 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.

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

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