Paul Simon & Garfunkle - The Sounds of Silence

Tell me what this means to you. Don't look for the meaning on the web either. I want to see what you guys think this song means. Here are the lyrics:

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
Beneath 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 deared
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

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 signs said the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence

 

I originally thought it had to do with Burning Man or a festival. Meaning that everything is just so in tune there isn't need for talk. Humans communicating without speaking. Neon god is the burning man.

Guess thats one way to interpret it I have since changed my opinion on the meaning though...

 

I think it has to do with how people search for truth, and are oblivious to what is right in front of them. We go through life battling and struggling when if you open your eyes the answers are there.

Paul Simon will always have a HUGE part in my heart.

 

I am not exactly sure what this song is about. But I am sure that Simon & Garfunkel are basically amazing.

 

that's what i was leaning towards.

 

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 those silent times, maybe waking in the early morning, alone. Or the comfort of a quiet, familiar room, thinking there’s something more, something more than this, my life.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
Beneath 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 bus let me out in downtown Laramie, alone in a cold windy lonely night …

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 deared
Disturb the sound of silence

We all were in on this one! This is the kind of thing that happened in the 60s and 70s, everyone connected, tripping, straight, it didn’t matter. We knew there had never been a time like this before, when lots of people could talk without speaking and 10,000 people all writing our songs and no doubt whatsoever that it was magic and it was really real.

"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

Another side of silence – the silence of many people laughing and one person starving, the silence of walking past a suffering brother or sister, the silence of an emptiness inside.

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 signs said the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence

And we could see where things were going, in our fragile beauty and hope and a world sparkling with the numinous, yet all around people were (and still are) bowing praying to their god, thing. Getting ahead, going faster, making more, getting more and more and more thing, but thing can never be satisfied, of-fucking-course, like we don’t already know that.

 

S&G foreseen the events of 911...

I had to get that out my system.. uke:

lol...

 

It does have a wonderful melody, thats for sure.

 

I always thought it was about people's unwillingness to disturb the status quo even when things need to be shaken up to change for the better.

 

This kind of reminds me of inner vision/closed eye visualizations. Its usually stronger for me when i first wake up, with dreamjuice still in my brain.

 

I think it was a dream that Paul Simon had.

 

Nope, just looked it up, I was wrong.

 

<-- they wrote it because of my nickname!
sry for spam

 

Its about the future apocalypse and our enslavement by machines.


Obviously.

 

So codmouse, do you know the meaning or emotion behind the song?

Here is a clue, it was written in 1964.

 

well back when this song hit the airways for the most part it was thought to be a song about the vietnam war,but everybody has their own opinions!

 

Assassination of Kennedy Thats what the song is about. Peoples shock, kinda like peoples shock at 9/11

 

Wondered when you were going to reply.
Correct, give that Codmouse a slice o' cheese.

 

Lmao, you rock. Cheese...