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Paradise ~ by the late, great John Prine- no CBG content.

Paradise ~ by the late, great John Prine. Played on a cool old beater of a six string that I re-glued, repaired and made into a tenor guitar. With Iowa Saxophone Inster Mental.

"Paradise" by John Prine

When [D]I was a child my [G] family would [D]travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my [A] parents were [D]born
And there's a backwards old town that's [G] often re[D]membered
So many times that my [A] memories are [D] worn.

And daddy won't you take me back to [G] Muhlenberg [D] County?
Down by the Green River where [A] Paradise [D] lay.
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're [G] too late in [D] asking.
Mister Peabody's coal train has [A] hauled it [D] away.

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie 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. [Chorus]
----
If you want to do this with a slide on an open tuned guitar like a GDG,
make the D open, the G at the 5th fret and the A at the 7th fret.

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Comment by RTZGUITARS on April 10, 2020 at 4:17am: Thank you John.

Comment by Nancy kat on April 10, 2020 at 3:59am: Absolutely a beautiful rendition U~John...I like the guit to...purrrrfect song for you...I like that guit Jason has one he made its one of my favorites!

Comment by Uncle John on April 10, 2020 at 2:54am: Thanks, Danny and Jason. That guitar has it own kind of quirky yelp. It may be happy to be getting the glue job, tuners, etc. and getting played again.

Comment by Jason Mills on April 10, 2020 at 1:37am: Great Tribute and nice old guity!! :>)

Comment by Danny Gordon on April 9, 2020 at 8:11pm: NICELY DONE UNC. I LOVE THAT FANCY GUITAR

Comment by Uncle John on April 9, 2020 at 2:14pm: Thanks, J.Rob, Dave and Kale. Prine was one of the best and most loved singer song writers. Dave, that truly sounds like an experience and a tough one. Nice to know the miners embraced that song. Makes it even better.

Comment by Poorness Studios on April 9, 2020 at 1:59pm: A great tribute to a great songwriter. Thanks Unc.

Comment by Dave Lynas on April 9, 2020 at 1:22pm: Excellent Uncle. I lived in strip mine country back in the 60’s and early 70’s. It was a desolate landscape with no living things where Mr. Peabody’s giant shovel pillaged the land. sulfurous rocks and little chunks of coal coated with crystals of acid, strewn all over the wasteland. My son thought we were on the moon when we visited friends who lived out in an old farmhouse on stripped land. The coal co. Owned the mineral rights. That meant they could strip the land right up to the house, barn and garage. The house was up in the air and you climbed a step ladder to get in the house. There was no living vegetation anywhere on the mine. Run off from the mine washed into the stream below killing all the trees and any life. The only place nearby with living trees and wildlife was the hill tops. Prine came out with Paradise while I lived there. It really hit home. The miners I played music with loved that song. They learned it right away and we played it every jam.

Comment by J.Rob on April 9, 2020 at 12:27pm: Classic.

Nice job UJ!

Comment by Uncle John on April 9, 2020 at 10:29am: Andries. I like the sound of the tenor, but I also like a lot of bass. It seems like I one time tried doubling the big string with a low D and a standard D - thinking it would give me that good bassy sound. I remember it did not sound right. Too bad.