KEN NORDINE and the SHIFTING WHISPERING SANDS

Ask grandma. She might remember the glowing lights warming up the big radio and the mesmerizing voice of Ken Nordine telling the story of the “Shifting Whispering Sands.” It was back in October of 1955. 

With the pokey arrangement of Billy Vaughn’s orchestra and a creepy middle-aged chorus a contrast to Ken’s lone voice, he spoke 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.”  (That includes a miner who may have died by his own hand. Or by a tomahawk chop from a crafty Navajo.) But let’s not give the tall tale away, as you might have missed it as shellac turned to vinyl, and vinyl turned to CD plastic, and CD plastic turned to an invisible blip of an mp3 file. Instead, some words on Ken…

Ken Nordine, of Swedish heritage, was born in Cherokee, Iowa but the family moved up to Chicago and that’s where he attended high school. He began working local radio stations, narrating short stories in a compelling baritone voice. Perhaps the very reason “Shifting Whispering Sands” became a crossover hit was because Dot records chose a guy who didn’t drawl the words. Rusty Draper also recorded the song in 1955, and actually half-sang it, but didn’t make it a hit. Jim Reeves, a classy C&W artist who didn’t speak with a twang, also covered it, as did the Jewish Canadian who worked the Ponderosa, Lorne Greene. 

 The song still belonged to Ken Nordine, who to his credit, didn’t choose to stay with country cornball poetry or narration. He left it to others, including Dot’s Wink Martindale who re-issued the old cowboy card trick “Deck of Cards,” and Dot’s Walter Brennan who scored hit singles including “Dutchman’s Gold.” 

City-boy Ken managed to persuade Dot to let him move in a hipper direction. Just two years after his country-tinged cowboy hit, record stores received "Word Jazz," a pioneering effort much in keeping with a cult-trend for "beat poet" narration records, which sometimes included recitations over jazz. Ginsberg, Rexroth, Ferlinghetti and others were playing with words. Kerouac was making albums. Jean Shepherd mixed with Mingus. Dion McGregor recorded his dreams (or, rather, somebody recorded them while he slept) and Mel Henke among others put out stuff that could've been dumped in the spoken word bin or the comedy bin (where swingin' Lord Buckley's stuff was turning up).

More word jazz albums followed, along with thinking man’s vinyl with titles such as “Colors,” “Twink,” “Stare with Your Ears” and "Triple Talk.” He was, along with Herschel Bernardi and Paul Frees, always welcomed by sponsors who needed a compelling voiceover artist to shill their products. That he maintained that second career as a sincere recording artist points to Ken’s restless energy and enthusiasm. A cool legend, he worked with the Grateful Dead (“Devout Catalyst” in 1991) and his "Word Jazz" items were re-issued on CD, mostly because English-as-a-Second-Language bloggers were too busy giving away the Louvin Brothers, Everly Brothers, The Lennon Sisters and Big Brother and the Holding Company and other kin to bother with Ken. 

No word on whether Nordine was cremated and spread over shifting whispering sands. He died a few days ago at the age of 98 (April 13, 1920 – February 16, 2019). Death is something to take seriously. The grim and mystic “Shifting Whispering Sands?” Not so much. 



Ken Nordine at the Sands - no idiotic password, no slow download to force you to buy a premium account, no dodgy server telling you your flash is out of date