Intro:
| C | C | C | C |
G
I discovered the valley of the shifting, whispering sands
While prospecting in a western state.
C
I saw the silent windmills, the crumbling water tanks,
The bones of the cattle picked clean by buzzards, bleached by the desert sun.
G
I stumbled over a crumbling buckboard nearly covered by the sand.
And stopping to rest, I heard a tinkling, whispering sound,
C F
And suddenly realized that even though the wind was quiet,
C
The sand did not lie still.
I seemed to be surrounded by a mystery
D7
So heavy and oppresive I could scarcely breathe.
G
For weeks I wandered aimlessly in the valley,
C
Seeking answers to the many questions that raced through my mind.
Where was ev'ryone? Why the white bones, the dry wells,
G
The baron valley where the people must have lived and died?
I sat down and buried my face in my hands.
C
And resting, I learned the secret of the shifting, whispering sands.
How I managed to escape from the valley, I don't know.
G
But now to pay my debt for being saved, I must tell you
What I learned out on the desert so many years ago.
C
G7
(When the day is hardly quiet and the breeze seems not to blow,
C
One would think the sand was resting but you'll find this is not so.
G7
It is whisp'ring, softly whisp'ring, as it slowly moves a-long.
C
And those who stop and listen, it will sing this mournful song.
F C
Of side-winders and the horn toad on the thorny chaparral,
D7 G
In the sunny days and the moonlight nights, the lonely coyotes yell.)
C
G7
How the stars seem they could touch you as you lay and gaze on high
C
At the heavens where you're hoping you'll be going when you die.
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