"Paradise" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter John Prine for his 1971 self-titled debut album. Prine later re-recorded the song for his 1986 album German Afternoons.
Background
"Paradise" is about the devastating impact of surface mining for coal, whereby the top layers of soil are blasted off with dynamite or dug away with steam shovels to reach a coal seam below, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, the home county of Prine's parents.[1] The song references coal mining corporation Peabody Energy and the former coal mining town of Paradise in Muhlenberg County, where the Tennessee Valley Authority operated the coal-fired Paradise Fossil Plant.[2] In late 1967, Paradise was abandoned and demolished to accommodate an expansion of the power plant.[3] The TVA has since converted the Paradise Fossil Plant, now the Paradise