Hello darkness my old friend I’ve cone to talk with you again
F Bb F Bb Fbecause a vision softly_ creeping left its seeds with I wa_s sleeping
Bb F Dm F C Dmand the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone narrow streets of cobble stone
F Bb F Bb F‘neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp
Bb Fwhen my eyes were stabbed by the flash of the neon light
that split the night and touched the sound of silence
Dm C DmAnd in the naked light I saw ten thousand people may be more
F Bb F Bb Fpeople talking without speaking people hearing without listening
people writing songs that voices never share and no one dare disturb the sound of silence
Dm C DmFools, said I, you do not know silence like a cancer grows
F Bb F Bbhear my words that I mi_ght teach you take my arms that I mi_ght reach you
but my words like silence raindrop fell and echoed in the wells of silence
Dm C DmAnd the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made
F Bb F Bb Fand the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming
and the signs said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
Dm F C Dmand tenement halls and wispered in the sounds of silence
The song was originally recorded as an acoustic track for the duo's first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, in 1964, but later added the parts of electric instruments and released as a single. In 1965 Paul Simon inserted it in his first solo LP recorded in London