Discover the story of the song > Paradise – John Prine

The protagonist remembers going with his family to a town called Muhlenberg County when he was a child, where they would go down to the Green River and to an old abandoned prison. However, a coal company came and stripped the land and took away Paradise. Now, he can never go back, but he wishes that when he dies his ashes will float down to the Green River where Paradise used to be.