Kate Wolf OLD JEROME with lyrics below

Words and music by Kate Wolf. Recorded in April 1983, it's from the album :"The Wind Blows Wild" released by Rhino Records in 1988. A CD worth owning and listening to again and again. This song was written when Kate visited Jerome, AZ and performed there at the old Episcopal Church. In 1987, the year after Kate's death, the town council made it the official song of Jerome. To learn more about Kate's visit to Jerome and her friendship with local folksinger Katie Lee which led to Kate writing this song, I recommend reading "Home Sweet Jerome" by Diane Sword Rapaport published in 2014.
Drinking early morning coffee
talking with good friends
and walking the streets
of rough cut stone
She was once a miners’ city
now the ghost of a dying town
but there’s a fire burning bright
in old Jerome.
Some have come for fortune
some have come for love
and some have come
for the things they cannot see
Now the grass is green and growing
where the gardens once had died
and the birds sing in the
young Ailanthus trees
And they say that once you live here
you never really go
‘cause she’ll have a hold on you
until you die
With her ground moving crazy
her fierce wind blowing free
and her ruins standing
proud against the sky
Houses cling to mountains
like miners cling to dreams
they hold on so long
and then they just let go
And this mountain she’s your mistress
you’ll ride her ’til you fall
and wash down
to the valley far below.
There are stories that tell on Cleopatra
there are stories that never can be told
the wind and the rain sing their mountain lullaby
the copper shines like Arizona gold
And her walls stand strong and silent
starin’ out with empty eyes
like beggars blind and lame
that do no harm
With their empty rooms that hold
the old town’s memories
and their doorways
that reach out like empty arms
In the streets the children play
climbing up the crooked stairs
and lovers touch and turn
to go back home
And the sounds of hammers echo
in the once forgotten halls
and hope stirs in the
heart of old Jerome
The moon shines bright on Cleopatra
the mines lie sleeping far below
the wind and the rain sing their mountain lullaby
and copper shines like Arizona gold