Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence Meaning
Song Released: 1965
Covered By: Bananarama (2009), Disturbed (2015)
The Sound of Silence Lyrics
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...
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Hello darkness, my old friend---Seeking Hello from the evil one. He has known before and is close to him from time to time whenever he calls upon him.
I've come to talk with you again --- He has sought wisdom from the evils before. Is still seeking more wisdom
Because a vision softly creeping --- He has had a specific vision-that came in un-announced and unwarranted under the cover of darkness slipping through the lowly places and as if it were righteous
Left its seeds while I was sleeping --- Left an impression in his dreams that will grow over time.
And the vision that was planted in my brain --- The impression will not go away and was planted there to grow.
Still remains --- Still There. The original vision still repeats itself.
Within the sound of silence --- In the dream, no sound, it is silent. communication is felt not heard. Spirit world of communication
In restless dreams I walked alone --- He is there by himself. This is his soul's future. He only has himself to answer for.
Narrow streets of cobblestone --- This is the narrow pathway to heaven . He started out on the right path.
'Neath the halo of a street lamp --- On the way he came across light that appeared righteous.
I turned my collar to the cold and damp --- He turned away from the righteous path and walked toward the spiritually cold places of darkness. This was the false Halo, false light.
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light --- He found on his walks a bright false light that that turned out not to be pleasant.
That split the night --- An un-righteous light a false light coming through the darkness
And touched the sound of silence --- The light was without sound but had spiritual feeling in his vision
And in the naked light I saw --- The light was stripped of righteousness
Ten thousand people, maybe more --- He saw many souls on this path. The number is uncountable.
People talking without speaking --- no voice but messages come through spiritually
People hearing without listening --- Complete communication through spiritual darkness
People writing songs that voices never share --- The music comes through darkness of spiritual feeling and not through direct earthly vibrations. These are dirges in the dark.
And no one dared --- Spiritual dirges that people do not hear in words.
Disturb the sound of silence --- Hearing is through the spirit world and placed through thought.
"Fools", said I, "You do not know --- " I " Is not talking about the writer, but rather the evil one making this statement
Silence like a cancer grows --- The silence of the evil one is spiritual through the inside just like cancer grows outwardly. Speaking spiritually and as a cancer grows. So does his message
Hear my words that I might teach you --- The evil one of darkness is speaking spiritually to teach the evil ways.
Take my arms that I might reach you" --- The evil one wants people to reach out there arm so that he may guide down the path of un-righteous
But my words, like silent raindrops fell - As from up above or in another plain of existence. The words fall amongst those
And echoed "repeated"
In the wells of silence --- The wells are the abyss. The silence of course is the spirit world of communication.
And the people bowed and prayed --- The souls of people there bow and pray to the false God of light.
To the neon god they made --- The neon God is a false light.
And the sign flashed out its warning --- Out of the sign the false God and a reminder to those who followed into the darkness. You now have the truth, but too late.
In the words that it was forming --- The words in the sign will always be seen.
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls - Even as you were walking down the path of darkness. The prophets tried to warn you and you did not listen. The truth is revealed, too late.
And tenement halls" --- The pathway to Heaven. The place that awaits all his people to those who listen, though many did not. The truth revealed, too late.
And whispered in the sounds of silence --- The place of unspeakable torment. -
I think the interpretation of looking at it from a society standpoint is correct but how I interpreted it is also from a songwriting standpoint. People talking without speaking people hearing without listning people writing songs that voices never shared. To that means people write lyrics but they don't mean anything and voices never shared because they are just writing them for the sake of writing songs, they don't truely mean anything. The speaker tries to enlighten these 'fools', but they simply ignore him turning their attention to this fake neon god with no substance. The neon god agrees and points where to look, but none of them pay any attention, and without substance, there might as well be the sound of silence.
I inerpret it this way and it could very well be Paul Simon forshadowing the lack of meaning in music today, which we all know certainly applies. Anyways that is what I think let me know what you do! -
This song criticizes the increasing materialistic tendency and modern people's blind faith in 'neon god'. Here, neon god stands for the commercial advertisements flashed with neon lights. Pramod subedi, nepal
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I think the neon light is a literal neon light, and the gods are the pop culture icons. The "talking without speaking" and "hearing without listening" seems to be like most pointless talk these days. He tries to stop the mindless advance of culture, but those who go against the flow are few and far between, so his words aren't listened to. This is my humble opinion, don't flame me.
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Heroin: if you know this drug have used it, thats what it's about.
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The song is about his wifes breakdown. She is trapped in silence and darkness where he cannot reach her. He is describing how he thinks she feels trapped in her own mind
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I don't see the song in anyway as being drug related but rather lonliness and being open and real. Jesus and his cousin John the Baptist for example spoke directly from the heart with everyone and played no mind games. Can you Imagine being in a room with a wild bunch of people who are competitive,two faced,business minded,sports minded, earthly people and then you or I who they know comes in and says hey your all gods creations and hang in there because god loves you and the sun will shine. I don't care what your status is in this life because I love you anyways. They would all think your nuts and feel embarrassed for you but deep down we need this kind of talk and when your alone with little or no sound you become deep in thought and not fake.
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The sound of silence; did you ever want to be left alone for a while to clear your and as you sit in your dark room or in your yard looking at the moon, your mind seems to relax every time you do such things so yeah Hello darkness my old friend I've come to talk with you again. Sounds almost like the beginning of self counseling or therapy?the rest of this classic song is probably what he was almost dreaming about as he was sitting there enjoying the silence. The verses may be memories he is thinking about or maybe encounters he has had and in a moment of self examination he tells himself that he while being a great writer the real signs ofmusical genious is written on the wall of the subways by graffiti artists
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I believe that this song was written in the 60's and was about the times then when a person, man or woman was lonely that needed and wanted a friend to talk to other than to just talk in general, to deeply talk and discuss personal things that might be troubling them without having to go to see a shrink. I'm not referring to a gay person seeking a mate, just another straight person to talk to. But back then you could be in a shopping mall of 10 thousand people or more, people talking but not speaking, hearing but not listening, and if you were a stranger and went up to just one person or group of people and tried to talked other then general, you would be given the cold shoulder and be told to leave. Today is worse.
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You are kind of right but missing one big thing. The society Simon envisions is a dictatorship. Not Hitler's dictatorship exactly; more just any dictatorship. And a dictatorship silences the people but really it is the people who have silenced themselves by communicating less and less. There are still prophets, but no one will listen to them so they write their words on subway walls and tenement halls, where, perhaps, future generations will read them and act. But until then, the people will bow and pray to their pointless gods and not listen because it is pointless.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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"A societal view of the lack of communication."
-Paul Simon on this song -
The best interpretation of this song I have ever come to the conclusion of was one of a atomic bomb. The bomb of course being the "neon light" referred to in the song. What's most interesting is later on when it speaks of how "the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made". The cold war and even today, we revere it as the strongest form of arsenal a country can possess. A simple explanation...but still carrying the depth of sages
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Well, first of all this song is definitely about lack of communication between mankind. I think he calls darkness as "old friend" referring to the beginning of humanity when there was darkness and it all started with light (Bible). So this means that mankind destroying itself, maybe not physically but spiritually.
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