Earth Day 2005

Prophetic Commentary: Earth Day 2005

Paradise

John Prine online



When I was a child, my family would travel
To western Kentucky, where my parents were born
And there’s a backward old town that’s often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn

CHORUS:
And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River, where Paradise lay
Well I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in askin’
Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

Well sometimes we’d float right down the Green River
To an abandoned old prison down by Atry Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we’d shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill

CHORUS

Then the coal company came, with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

CHORUS

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester Dam
I’ll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin’
Just five miles away from wherever I am


End of the Innocence

Don Henley online

Walden / Walden Woods Project

Heaven Is Under Our Feet edited by Don Henley and Dave Marsh



From the album, End of the Innocence

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
But "happily ever after" fails
We've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

But I know a place where we can go
That's still untouched by men
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds toll by
And the tall grass waves in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence [Interlude]

Who knows how long this will last
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye

Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence