"Paradise '' is a song written by John Prine for his father, and recorded for his 1971 debut album, John Prine. Prine also re-recorded the song for his 1986 album, German Afternoons. The song is about the devastating impact of strip mining for coal, whereby the top layers of soil are blasted off with dynamite to reach the coal seam below. The song is also about what happened to the area around the Green River in Kentucky because of the strip mining. The song references the Peabody Coal Company, and a town called Paradise in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky where Tennessee Valley Authority now operates a coal - fired power plant. The area has suffered serious economic downturn because of the decline of coal mining.
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John Prine John Prine