The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 1 & 2)

 

 

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 된 곡으로 내가 반세기전 이곡을 접하게 되면서 좋아하던 곡인데 

2014년 막바지에 다시한번 듣고 싶어 금년 마지막 곡으로 올린다.

 

Billy Vaughn / The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 1& 2), (1955, #5 )

Narration : Ken Nordene

 

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.)..

 

Part 2 가사는 아래 참조

 

 

Rusty Draper / The Shifting, Whispering Sands (Part 2)

 Rusty Draper (본명 Farrell H. Draper; 1923 – 2003)의 1955년 빌보드 챠트 3위곡

 

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

 

 

 

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)