“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”
The words quoted up above and below were written by Paul
Simon when he was 21 years old and, oh-my-gosh, don’t we all wish we could
write like him? Maybe not all of us but I have long admired how song writers
can use so few words and find the commonalities among us. Dreams wake me up
often and I’ll lay there in the dark trying to hold onto the visions that crept
in while I was sleeping. If only I could turn those visions into songs I’d die
a happy camper.
“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”
The song was written over several months in 1963 and was
first released in 1964 but it didn’t hit the top of the Billboard chart until
1966. Over the years it has been rumored that Simon wrote the song about John
F. Kennedy’s assassination but Paul emphatically denies that, says he started
writing it months before that tragic day happened.
“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
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence”
Classified as folk rock, Simon wrote the song in his bathroom because it was the only place where he could
find total darkest which helped his creativity. Garfunkel (Simon’s partner for many years) says the song
sums up how so many people are unable to communicate with each other on an
emotional level.
"’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”
Oh yes, we've all been there, done that---felt like we talk and no one listens. Surrounded by people, they seem too busy chasing the latest media sensation, the latest fashion trend, the next dollar to be earned or spreading the word of a smiting God and a vengeful politician. And when we need a hug of comfort, a word of wisdom, a hopeful ray of sunshine we feel only the coldness of being alone in a crowd, we only hear the sound of silence in our ears and we see only darkness coming. What do we do, what do we shout to make the human race heed the warning in Simon’s song before it's too late to save the our world from self-destruction?
Thank you Simon. I want to be a song writer just like you when I grow up. ©
Oh yes, we've all been there, done that---felt like we talk and no one listens. Surrounded by people, they seem too busy chasing the latest media sensation, the latest fashion trend, the next dollar to be earned or spreading the word of a smiting God and a vengeful politician. And when we need a hug of comfort, a word of wisdom, a hopeful ray of sunshine we feel only the coldness of being alone in a crowd, we only hear the sound of silence in our ears and we see only darkness coming. What do we do, what do we shout to make the human race heed the warning in Simon’s song before it's too late to save the our world from self-destruction?
Thank you Simon. I want to be a song writer just like you when I grow up. ©
