G#m F# Hello darkness, my old friend,

G#mI've come to talk with you again,

E BBecause a vision softly creeping,

E BLeft its seeds while I was sleeping,

E BAnd the vision that was planted in my brain

B/A# G#mStill remains

B F# G#mWithin the sound of silence.

F#In restless dreams I walked alone

G#mNarrow streets of cobblestone,

E B'neath the halo of a street lamp,

E BI turned my collar to the cold and damp

E BWhen my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

B/A# G#mThat split the night

B F# G#mAnd touched the sound of silence.

F#And in the naked light I saw

G#mTen thousand people, maybe more.

E BPeople talking without speaking,

E BPeople hearing without listening,

E BPeople writing songs that voices never share

B/A# G#mAnd no one dare

B F# G#mDisturb the sound of silence.

F#Fools said I, you do not know

G#mSilence like a cancer grows.

E BHear my words that I might teach you,

E BTake my arms that I might reach you.

E B B/A# G#mBut my words like silent raindrops fell,

BAnd echoed

F# G#mIn the wells of silence

F#And the people bowed and prayed

G#mTo the neon God they made.

E BAnd the sign flashed out its warning,

E BIn the words that it was forming.

EAnd the sign said, the words of the prophets

BAre written on the subway walls

B B/A# G#mAnd tenement halls.

B F# G#mAnd whisper'd in the sounds of silence.