“Daddy, Won’t You Take Me Back to Muhlenberg County” (Part 1)

Tweet

Road trip!! I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I know the trip has been successful. I went to Paradise today. One of the most iconic songs in the great John Prine’s career is “Paradise,” the lament of strip mining and its destruction of a small western Kentucky town. You may or may not know the song. You also may or may not know that every word in the song is true. I’ve mentioned it before, much to the delight of @TheHorse (who does a superb version of the song). Although they don’t exist anymore, the ghosts of Paradise are there and very much alive, thanks in no small part to Prine’s 1971 song. The collage shows you around the area: *The Rochester Dam *The TVA “Paradise” sign, pointing the way to the power plant *The road that leads up to Airdrie Hill (it’s marked “no trespassing,” and I do like to act as though I can read and write so I didn’t trespass and go up in search of the abandoned old prison”) *The Green River, looking toward Airdrie Hill There’s more, of course, for the music geek. But the beauty is for everyone.