A#mG#
Hello darkness my old friend,
A#m
I’ve come to talk with you again.
C#F#C#
Because a vision softly creeping
F#C#
Left it’s seed while I was sleeping,
F#C#
And the vision that was planted in my brain
A#m
Still remains
C#G#A#m
Within the sounds of silence.
A#mG#
In restless dreams I walked alone,
A#m
Narrow streets of cobble stone.
C#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
A#m
That split the night
C#G#A#m
And touched the sounds of silence.
A#mG#
And in the naked light I saw
A#m
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
C#F#C#
People talking without speaking,
F#C#
People hearing without listening,
F#C#
People writing songs that voices never shared,
A#m
And no one dared
C#G#A#m
Disturb the sounds of silence.
A#mG#
“Fools!” said I, “you do not know,
A#m
Silence like a cancer grows.
C#F#C#
Hear my words that I might teach you,
F#C#
Take my arms that might reach you.”
F#C#A#m
But my words like silent raindrops fell
C#G#A#m
And echoed in the wells of silence.
A#mG#
And the people bowed and prayed
A#m
To the neon gods they made.
C#F#C#
And the sign flashed its warning,
F#C#
In the words that it was forming,
F#C#
And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are
C#
written on the subway walls
A#m
And tenement halls.”
C#G#A#m
And whispered in the sounds of silence.