[Intro]
C F C  G7 C  F C  G7 C  G7 C
[Verse]
     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.
[Chorus]
    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
[Verse]
      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.
[Chorus]
    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
[Verse]
         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.
[Chorus]
    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    C G7 C 
Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it away
[Verse]
       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.
[Chorus]
    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
[Outro]
C F C  G7 C  F C  G7 C   G7 C . . .