The Sounds Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel (1966)

[Return to INTRODUCTION] [Return to Table Of Contents]

[1960-1969 Best Songs]

Billboard Top 100, 1966, #54

Don't think of the song, the music, or the melody. Don't sing; just read the words:

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision
That was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed
By the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops, fell
And echoed In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
...And whispered in the sounds of silence.

A great poem, with vibrant imagery, a challenging metaphor, a clever interaction between the first-person author and the subject of his dream ("vision").

Alright, you can reintroduce the melody. When Simon and Garfunkel sing this song it's more as if the song is being projected through them than sung by them.

Re-enter the music. Now, notice how it fits the words, starting with trepidation, as if in the dark, then opening up and getting more powerful, then demanding your attention as it reaches crescendo, and finally collapsing in futility, just as the last words are sung.

If you're a younger person just getting into this song for the first time, do yourself a favor: try not to listen to it so much that you ruin it. It took me twenty years to love it again.