Chords for The Shifting Whispering Sands as done by Jim Reeves

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ I discovered the valley of the shifting whispering sands while [Bm] prospecting for gold in [Cm] one of
our [Dm] western states.
[G] _ _ I saw the [Dm] silent [G] windmills, the crumbling water tanks, _ _ the bones of cattle
and burrows picked [C] clean by buzzards _ bleached by the desert [G] sun.
[C] _ _ _ [G] I stumbled over a [C] crumbling
buckboard nearly covered by the sands, [Gm] and [D] stopping to rest I [G] heard a tinkling, whispering
sound and suddenly realized that [Dm] even though the wind was [G] quiet, the sand did not lie still. _
_ _ [C] I seemed [D] to be surrounded by a [Em] mystery so [F] heavy and oppressive I could scarcely breathe.
_ For days and weeks I wandered aimlessly in [C] this valley, seeking answers to the many questions
that raced through my fevered mind.
_ [D] Where was everyone?
Why the white bones, the dry
wells, the [G] barren valley where people must have lived and died?
_ Finally I could go no
farther, my food and water [C] gone.
I sat down and buried my face in my hands, [G] and resting
[C] thus I learned the secret of the shifting, [G] whispering [C] sands.
[Dm] How I [G] managed to escape
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 [C] years ago. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ The wind is soft and [G] whispering [D] as it slowly _ moves [G] along, and for those who stop and listen
it will [Gm] sing this [G] mournful _ song [C] of [F] _ sidewinders and the horned toads of [C] the thorny _ _ chaparral.
[G] _ In [D] the sunny [Bm] days [D] and moonlight nights [G] the coyotes lonely _ yell.
All the stars sing,
[C] you could touch [G] them as [C] you lay [A] and gaze [Dm] on [G] by _ at the [Dm] heavens [G] where we're all _ _ going _ _ when
[C] _ we die. _ _ _
_ Yes, it always whispers to me of the days of long ago when the settlers [Dm] and the
miners [G] fought the crafty Navajo.
_ _ How the cattle roamed [Dm] the valley, [G] happy people worked the
land, and now everything is covered by [C] the shifting, whispering sands. _
How the miner
left his buckboard, went to work his claim that day, and the burros broke their halters
when they thought he'd gone to stay.
[Dm] _
Wandered [G] far in search of water on to old Sidewinder's
well and there their [Dm] bones picked clean [G] by buzzards that were circling when they fell.
_ [C] _ _ [Bb] _ How [Ab] they [Eb] found aged _ Miner _ lying dead upon [Fm] a sand, [Bb] _ off to loss they could but wonder if
he died.
[D] _ _ [Eb] _ _ So [Abm] they dug [Eb] his grave and laid him on his back and crossed [Fm] his [Bb] hands, and his
secret still is hidden by the [Gm] shifting, whispering [Eb] _ sands.
_ _ [Ab] _
_ _ This is what they whispered to me _
[Cm] _ [Eb] on the quiet desert air, _ _
_ _ [F] of the people _ and the cattle and
[Bb] the miner lying there.
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] If you want [Eb] to learn their secret, [D] [Eb] wander through this quiet land _ _
_ and _ [Gb] I'm [Fm] sure [Bb] you will hear the story of the shifting, _ whispering sands. _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] The shifting, _ [Fm] _ _ _ [Ab] whispering [Eb] _
_ _ sands. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _