<P> `` 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 . </P>
<P> `` 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 . </P>
who wrote daddy wo n 't you take me back to muhlenberg county
who wrote daddy wo n 't you take me back to muhlenberg county
John Prine
John Prine