One of the old-timey things about this song, imho, is that it lends itself to lyric shifting...yesterday, the local waste management corporation sponsored a huge family day with free food, music, clowns, frisbees, etc, and bus tours of the new ash landfill. For some reason, these words just popped into my head...Daddy won't you take me to the Quinebaug Valley
Down to the green river where paradise lay,
I'm sorry my son, you're too late in askin'
The ash landfill came and turned it to gray
(now I'll see if the line breaks came out right!!!)
V