F#m E Hello darkness, my old friend,

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

D ABecause a vision softly creeping,

D ALeft its seeds while I was sleeping,

D AAnd the vision that was planted in my brain

A/G# F#mStill remains

A E F#mWithin the sound of silence.

EIn restless dreams I walked alone

F#mNarrow streets of cobblestone,

D A'neath the halo of a street lamp,

D AI turned my collar to the cold and damp

D AWhen my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

A/G# F#mThat split the night

A E F#mAnd touched the sound of silence.

EAnd in the naked light I saw

F#mTen thousand people, maybe more.

D APeople talking without speaking,

D APeople hearing without listening,

D APeople writing songs that voices never share

A/G# F#mAnd no one dare

A E F#mDisturb the sound of silence.

EFools said I, you do not know

F#mSilence like a cancer grows.

D AHear my words that I might teach you,

D ATake my arms that I might reach you.

D A A/G# F#mBut my words like silent raindrops fell,

AAnd echoed

E F#mIn the wells of silence

EAnd the people bowed and prayed

F#mTo the neon God they made.

D AAnd the sign flashed out its warning,

D AIn the words that it was forming.

DAnd the sign said, the words of the prophets

AAre written on the subway walls

A A/G# F#mAnd tenement halls.

A E F#mAnd whisper'd in the sounds of silence.