Recitation Song/Shifting, Whispering Sands

The Shifting, Whispering Sands는 1950년 V.C. Gilbert와 Mary Hadler가 작사 작곡한 곡으로 Billy Vaughn 악단이 연주하고 Ken Nordene이 해설한 버젼이 1955년 9월 빌보드 챠트 5위에 올랐고 그 다음달인1955년 10월에는 Rusty Draper가 발표한 버젼이 빌보드 챠트 3위에 올랐다. 예전에 많이 유행하던 스토리가 있는 토크쏭 장르의 하나로 요즘에는 이런 스타일의 곡들을 만나기 어려워 아쉽다. 발표된지 벌써 60년이 넘은 곡으로 내가 반세기전 이곡을 접하게 되면서 좋아하던 곡이다. Billy Vaughn Orchestra/The Shifting, Whispering Sands Part 1 & 2 (Ken Nordene 해설) 이곡의 내용은 미국 서부 금광 탐사를 나갔던 한 사나이가 몇주간 황량한 사막을 헤매다 물과 식량이 소진되어 죽음의 문턱에 갔다가 구사일생으로 생환하여 그 상황을 설명하는 내용이다. 바람에 휘날리며 속삭이는 사막모래가 그에게  어떻게 옛날의 많은 사람들이 이곳에서 생활을 하였고 어떻게 사라졌는지에 대한 비밀을 알려주었다고 하는데 그가 어떻게 살아났는지 구체적인 내용은 나오지 않는다.

 
 

The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 1)   I discovered the valley of the shifting whispering sands While prospecting for gold in one of our western states. I saw the silent windmills, the crumbling water tanks The bones of cattle and burrows, picked clean by buzzards Bleached by the desert sun. I stumbled over a crumbling buckboard nearly covered by the sands And stopping to rest I heard a tinkling whispering sound And suddenly realised 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 breath For days and weeks I wandered aimlessly in this valley Seeking answers to the many questions That raced through my fevered mind. Where was everyone why the white bones, the dry wells The barren valley where people must have lived and died Finally I could go no farther my food and water gone I sat down and buried my face in my hands and resting thus I learnt the secret of the shifting whispering sands. How I escaped from the valley I do not know But now to pay my final debt for being spared I must tell you what I learned out there on the desert So many years ago. (When the day is oddly quiet And the breeze seems not to blow One would think the sand was resting But you'll find this is not so. It is whisp'ring softly whisp'ring As it slowly moves along And for those who stop and listen It will sing this mournful song. Of sidewinders and the horntoads Of the Thorny Chaparral In the sunny days and moonlight nights The coyote's lonely yell. How the stars seem you could touch them As you lay and gaze on high At the Heavens where we're hoping  We'll be going when we die.).. The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 2) (Listen to the age old story of The shifting, whispering sands)   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 buckboards Went to work his claims 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 How they found the ancient 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 This is what they whispered to me Way out in 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

Rusty Draper / The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 2)  Rusty Draper (본명 Farrell H. Draper; 1923 – 2003)의 1955년 빌보드 챠트 3위곡   Jim Reeves / The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 1 & 2)    Johnny Cash / The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 1)   Sons Of Pioneers / The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 2)