Fm D# Hello darkness, my old friend,

FmI've come to talk with you again,

C# G#Because a vision softly creeping,

C# G#Left its seeds while I was sleeping,

C# G#And the vision that was planted in my brain

G#/G FmStill remains

G# D# FmWithin the sound of silence.

D#In restless dreams I walked alone

FmNarrow streets of cobblestone,

C# G#'neath the halo of a street lamp,

C# G#I turned my collar to the cold and damp

C# G#When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

G#/G FmThat split the night

G# D# FmAnd touched the sound of silence.

D#And in the naked light I saw

FmTen thousand people, maybe more.

C# G#People talking without speaking,

C# G#People hearing without listening,

C# G#People writing songs that voices never share

G#/G FmAnd no one dare

G# D# FmDisturb the sound of silence.

D#Fools said I, you do not know

FmSilence like a cancer grows.

C# G#Hear my words that I might teach you,

C# G#Take my arms that I might reach you.

C# G# G#/G FmBut my words like silent raindrops fell,

G#And echoed

D# FmIn the wells of silence

D#And the people bowed and prayed

FmTo the neon God they made.

C# G#And the sign flashed out its warning,

C# G#In the words that it was forming.

C#And the sign said, the words of the prophets

G#Are written on the subway walls

G# G#/G FmAnd tenement halls.

G# D# FmAnd whisper'd in the sounds of silence.