| When I was a child my family would travel
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| Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
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| There’s a backwards old town that’s often remembered
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| So many times that my memories are worn
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| And, daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
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| Down by the Green River where paradise lay
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| Well, I’m sorry, my dear, but you’re too late in asking
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| Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
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| The coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
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| They tortured the timber and stripped all the land
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| They dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
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| And wrote it all down as the progress of Man
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| And, daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
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| Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
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| Well, I’m sorry, my dear, but you’re too late in asking
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| Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
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| When I die, let my ashes float down the Green River
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| Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
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| I’ll be halfway to heaven with paradise waiting
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| I’m five miles away from wherever I am
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| And, daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
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| Down by the Green River where paradise lay
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| Well, I’m sorry, my dear, but you’re too late in asking
 | 
| Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away
 | 
| When I die, let my ashes float down the Green River
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| Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
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| I’ll be halfway to heaven with paradise waiting… |