Sounds of Silence

A 1964 popular song
words and music by Paul Simon


The sheet music:


Accompaniment by Fred Feild:


Lyrics

  1. 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
  1. In restless dreams, I walked alone
    Narrow streets of cobblestone
    ‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
    I turned my collar to the cold and damp
    When my eyes were stabbed
    By the flash of a neon light split the night
    And touched the sound of silence
  1. 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 shared
    No one dared disturb the sound of silence
  1. “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
  1. 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 in tenement halls”
    And whispered in the sounds of silence

Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: