Intro :
I discovered the valley of the shifting whispering sands
While prospecting in a western state.
I saw the silent windmills the crumbling w ater tanks
The bones of the cattle picked clean by buzzards bleached by the desert sun.
I stumbled over a cr umbling buckboard nearly covered by the sand.
And stopping to rest I heard a tinkling whispering sound
And sudde nly 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 oppresive I could scar cely breathe.
For weeks I wandered aimlessly in the valley
Seeking answers to th e many questions that raced through my mind.
Where was ev'ryone? Why the white bones the dry wells
The baron valley where the 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.
(When the d ay is hardly quiet and the breeze seems not to blow
One would th ink the sand was resting but you'll find this is not so.
It is whisp'ring softly whisp'ring as it slowly moves a-long.
And those who stop and listen it will sing this mournful song.
Of side-winder s and the horn toad on the thorny chaparral
In the sunn y days and the moonlight nights the lonely coyotes yell.)
How the stars seem they cou ld touch you as you lay and gaze on high
At the heav ens where you're hoping you'll be going when you die.
