Paradise (John Prine)

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
When I was a child my family would travel

4  5  6  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  5
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered

4  5  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  4
So many times that my memories are worn.


Chorus:

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

4  5  6  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  5
Down by the Green River where Paradise lays

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking

4  5  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  4
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away


4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River

4  5  6  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  5
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols

4  5  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  4
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.


Repeat Chorus:

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel

4  5  6  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  5
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken

4  5  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  4
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.


Repeat Chorus:


4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River

4  5  6  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  5
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam

4  5  6  (66)  5  6  -6  (-6-6)  6  5
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'

4  5  -6  6  5  4  -4  4  -4  4
Just five miles away from wherever I am.