THE SOUND OF SILENCE 
 
 
Am                           G 
   Hello darkness, my old friend, 
                               Am 
   I've come to talk with you again, 
                         F      C 
   because a vision softly creeping 
                            F       C 
   left it's seeds while I was sleeping, 
            F                              C 
   and the vision that was planted in my brain 
           Am 
   still remains 
                G      Am 
   Within the sound of silence. 
 
 
                                 G 
   In restless dreams I walked along 
                            Am 
   narrow streets of cobblestone, 
                       F        C 
   'neath the halo of a street lamp 
                              F        C 
   I turned my collar to the cold and damp 
           F                                         C 
   when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light 
                  Am 
   that split the night 
                    G       Am 
   and touched the sound of silence. 
 
 
                           G 
   And in the naked light I saw 
                              Am 
   ten thousand people, maybe more. 
                       F       C 
   People talking without speaking, 
                       F        C 
   people hearing without listening, 
                   F                        C 
   people writing songs that voices never share 
              Am 
   and no one dare 
                G       Am 
   disturb the sound of silence. 
 
 
                              G 
   Fools said I, you do not know 
                          Am 
   silence like a cancer grows. 
                         F           C 
   Hear my words that I might teach you, 
                        F           C 
   take my arms that I might reach you. 
           F                           C 
   but my words like silent raindrops fell, 
 
   and echoed 
           G       Am 
   in the wells of silence 
 
 
                              G 
   And the people bowed and prayed 
                        Am 
   to the neon God they made. 
                            F        C 
   and the sign flashed out it's warning, 
                         F      C 
   in the words that it was forming. 
                            F 
   and the sign said: "the words of the prophets 
                              C 
   are written on the subway walls 
                Am 
   and tenement halls. 
                         G        Am 
   and whisper'd in the sounds of silence.