Throwing back to the week of October 18, 1955, we find the usual batch of repeats in the top four (including The Four Aces and The Four Lads in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively). And at #5 is one of the strangest hits I’ve covered yet.
‘The Shifting Whispering Sands’ is a Western song that combines spoken-word poetry and choral singing. Over the years it has been recorded by many artists, including Johnny Cash and Lorne Greene, but the most popular was this version by Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra.
It’s hard to believe an odd duck like this was pouring out of radios and racking up sales at the cash register, but I guess that’s the 50s for you.
I’d love to hear if my older readers recall this song.
I discovered the valley of the shifting, whispering sands
While prospecting in a Western state
I saw the silent windmills, the crumbling water tanks
The bones of the cattle picked clean by buzzards
Bleached by the desert sun
I stumbled over a crumbling buckboard nearly covered by the sand
And stopping to rest, I heard a tinkling, whispering sound
And suddenly realized that, even though the wind was quiet
The sand did not lie still
I seemed to be surrounded by a mystery so heavy and oppressive I could scarcely breathe
For weeks I wandered aimlessly in the valley
Seeking answers to the many questions that raced through my mind
Where was everyone? Why the white bones? The dry wells?
The barren valley where people must have lived and died
I sat down and buried my face in my hands
And, resting, I learned the secret of the shifting, whispering sands
How I managed to escape from the valley, I don’t know
But, now to pay my debt for being saved
I must tell you what I learned out on the desert, so many years ago
[Verse 1]
When the day is oddly quiet
And the breeze seems not to blow
One would think the sun was resting
But you’ll find this is not so
It is whispering, softly whispering
As it slowly moves along
And for those who stop and listen
It will sing this mournful song
[Verse 2]
Of sidewinders and the horn-toad
On the thorny chaparral
In the sunny days and moonlight nights
The lonely coyotes yell
[Verse 3]
How the stars seem they could touch you
As you lay and gaze on high
At the heavens where you’re hoping
You’ll be going when you die
[Narrator]
Yes it always whispers to me of the days of long ago
When the settlers and the miners fought the crafty Navajo
How the cattle roamed the valley, happy people worked the land
And now everything is covered by the shifting whispering sands
How the miner left his buckboard went to work his claim that day
And the burros broke their halters when they thought he′d gone to stay
Wandered far in search of water on to Old Sidewinder’s Well
And there, their bones picked clean by
buzzards that were circling when they fell
[Verse 4]
How they found the aged miner lying dead upon the sand
After months they could but wonder if he died by human hand
So they dug his grave and laid him on his back and crossed his hands
And his secret still is hidden by the shifting whispering sands
[Verse 5]
This is what they whispered to me on the quiet desert air
Of the people, and the cattle and the miner lying there
If you want to learn their secret wander through this quiet land
And I′m sure you’ll hear the story of the shifting, whispering sands
Of the shifting whispering sands
Meet Me In Montauk 
Do we make America great again by going back to this?
I am happy to say that this older reader has never heard this song before 🙂
Listen honey, it’s our wedding song!
Just kidding. Ixnay on knowing the ongsay.
I’m with the “never heard this one before” crowd. I’ve heard similar recordings from the era. I have a good friend who used to collect “spoke word” records. Not sure if he included this one in his collection since it does have the chorus.