A federal judge in Wyoming has denied a request by coal-mining giant Peabody Energy Corp. to remove the lyrics of a protest song from a lawsuit filed against the company by two Boulder activists.
At issue is “Paradise,” a 1971 song by John Prine that criticized St. Louis-based Peabody’s strip mines in Kentucky. Colorado pop star John Denver released a cover version of the song on his hit 1972 album “Rocky Mountain High.”
The song includes these lyrics:
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 asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.
Peabody (NYSE: BTU) claimed the lyrics were irrelevant to the suit and “tarnish Peabody’s name.” But U.S. Magistrate Kelly Rankin ruled that lyrics could remain in the suit.
In a federal lawsuit filed this spring, Thomas Asprey and Leslie Glustrom of Boulder claim they were jailed for demonstrating at a Peabody shareholders meeting in 2013 in Wyoming.
The pair is represented by Denver attorney Darold Killmer of Killmer, Lane & Newman LLP.
Peabody operates the Twentymile Mine in northwest Colorado.
By Angela Mueller | St. Louis Business Journal
[Thanks to Alex Teitz, http://www.femmusic.com, for the contribution.]