Sound of Silence

I can’t help but pick apart the lyrics of this song and relate it to what we’re going through with this pandemic. Like, oh my goodness, doesn’t it just articulate all that we’re experiencing right now?

Found this on Wikepedia (forgive me for not researching further 😜):

The song's origin and basis remain unclear, with multiple answers coming forward over the years. Many believe that the song commented on the John F. Kennedy assassination, as the song was recorded three months after the assassination.[4] Simon stated unambiguously in interviews, however, "I wrote The Sound of Silence when I was 21 years old",[8][9] which places the timeframe firmly prior to the JFK tragedy, with Simon also explaining that the song was written in his bathroom, where he turned off the lights to better concentrate.[6] "The main thing about playing the guitar, though, was that I was able to sit by myself and play and dream. And I was always happy doing that. I used to go off in the bathroom, because the bathroom had tiles, so it was a slight echo chamber. I'd turn on the faucet so that water would run (I like that sound, it's very soothing to me) and I'd play. In the dark. 'Hello darkness, my old friend / I've come to talk with you again.'"[10] In a more recent interview with Wynton Marsalis, Simon was directly asked, "How is a 21-year-old person thinkin' about the words in that song?" His reply was, "I have no idea."[11] According to Garfunkel, the song was first developed in November, but Simon took three months to perfect the lyrics, which he claims were entirely written on February 19, 1964.[12] Garfunkel once summed up the song's meaning as "the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other."[6]

I love hearing a little bit into the songwriter’s own experience with the words they wrote. What were you feeling? What were you thinking? What caused you to write this music the way you did? Tell me, tell me, tell me! And I can so relate to being that 21-year old finding comfort and connection with a dark, cold bathroom floor.

If you haven’t listened to this song yet, give it a listen and seen what it stirred up in you when you hear the words, melody, and instrumentation.

Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel:

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

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

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
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"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

Within the sound of silence

Comment below - I’d love to hear your thoughts/experience. 💕