KEY OF C – SONS OF THE PIONEERS
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
–
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 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 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
Shifting whispering sands
