According to the version recorded by Eamonn Andrews (of all people) in 1955 the words were mostly spoken over a musical background and went like this:

"I discovered the valley of the shifting, whispering sands while prospecting for gold in one of the western states. I saw the silent windmills, the crazy lopsided water tanks, the bones of cattles and burros picked clean by buzzards and bleached by the desert sun. I stumbled over a crumbling buckboard almost completely covered by the sand, and stopping to rest I heard a tinkling, whispering sound, and suddenly realized 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 breathe. For days and weeks I wandered aimlessly in this valley, seeking answers to the many questions that raced through my confused mind. Where was everyone, why the white bones, the dry wells, this barren valley where people had lived and died? Finally I could go no further, my food and water gone I sat down and buried my face in my hands and, resting thus, I learned the secret of the shifting, whispering sands." Girlie chorus: "When a day is hotly quiet, And a breeze seems not to blow One would think the sand is resting But you'll find it is not so It is whispering, softly whispering As it slowly moves along And for those who stop and listen It will sing this mournful song." Eamonn: "The sidewinders adn the horned toads of the thorny chapparall, endless sunny days and moonlit nights and the coyote's lonely yell." Girlie chorus: "Coyote's lonely yell!" Eamonn: "Oh the stars seem you could touch them As you lay and gaze on high And the heavens where we're hoping We'll be going when we die."