In the presence of friend and fellow artist Pamela Hirst (right), Terry Alvarez (left) blessed MobileBooth West with her captivating song. Her voice and lyrics harnessed much of the beauty of the land surrounding Las Cruces, and the magic that seems to keep people here for generations. To preface her song, “Hot Day in July,” she said, “Well, I started out wanting to write a love song one day, and as you know if you write, it doesn’t always take you where you want to go. So it ended up being a song about Las Cruces…When I moved to Las Cruces in 1955, and for at least 20 years after, it rained at least half the days in July. The clouds would come over the Organ Mountains, and it would rain…So I started writing…and I just thought of the beauty of those mountains and the eternalness of the mountains….”
hot day in July
and clouds on the mountaintop
roll down to the valley
and lay down their tears
red hawk flying high
up over the mountaintop
he’s been on his journey
for thousands of years
look there in the valley where the sun is breaking through
there the spirits of the old ones danced and played
and up there on the cliff by the Cueva and the red rock
lonely cowboys rode their horses through the day
and far over yonder, silver river winding wide
we dreamed our dreams and plans one yesterday
hot night in July and clouds on the mountaintop
they’re gone by the morning, just drifted away
my memories roll by
like clouds on the mountaintop
like light on the hillsides
red fading to gray
May 21st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I was looking for Las Cruces stories and ran across yours. My grand parents ran the white Dot Cafe on West Picacho. until it closed then my grand father drove a school bus and my grandmother cooked at the hospital. Thanks for the memory,