Tumbling Leaves

Bob Nolan
Original copyright: 2004

Days may be dreary, still I’m not weary.
My heart needs no consoling.
At each break of dawn you’ll find that I’ve gone
Like old tumbling leaves, I’m rolling.

See them tumbling down,
Pledging their love to the ground,
Lonely but free I’ll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling leaves.
Cares of the past are behind,
Nowhere to go but I’ll find
Just where the trail will wind,
Drifting along with the tumbling leaves.

I know when night has gone
That a new world’s born at dawn.

Time keeps rolling along,
Why should I care if I’m wrong
Here in my heart is a song,
Drifting along with the tumbling leaves.

Bob recalled standing at his apartment window one stormy day in late 1929, moodily watching the leaves being torn and whirled from the trees. After a brief reconciliation, his wife Pearl had taken their small daughter and left him for good. The Great Depression was slowly crushing his hopes and dreams. Traveling had always been his escape and it was to traveling that his thoughts turned once more. He scribbled the poem down on a handy piece of paper and called it "Tumbling Leaves". This scrap of paper in Bob's handwriting is all that is left of that original song. The song was registered for copyright in 2004 by Bob Nolan's grandson.

After the Sons of the Pioneers gained popularity on the radio in 1933, listeners would call in for "the tumbling weeds" song. Harry Hall, the announcer at radio station KFWB, suggested simply changing the title but Bob made a few adjustments to the rhythm as well and the song became "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", the all-time theme song of the Sons of the Pioneers. See recording to hear how Bob described making the change.

We do not have any sheet music for this song just a lead sheet.

Tumbling Leaves (lead sheet)