Cm A# Hello darkness, my old friend,

CmI've come to talk with you again,

G# D#Because a vision softly creeping,

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

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

D#/D CmStill remains

D# A# CmWithin the sound of silence.

A#In restless dreams I walked alone

CmNarrow streets of cobblestone,

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

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

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

D#/D CmThat split the night

D# A# CmAnd touched the sound of silence.

A#And in the naked light I saw

CmTen thousand people, maybe more.

G# D#People talking without speaking,

G# D#People hearing without listening,

G# D#People writing songs that voices never share

D#/D CmAnd no one dare

D# A# CmDisturb the sound of silence.

A#Fools said I, you do not know

CmSilence like a cancer grows.

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

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

G# D# D#/D CmBut my words like silent raindrops fell,

D#And echoed

A# CmIn the wells of silence

A#And the people bowed and prayed

CmTo the neon God they made.

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

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

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

D#Are written on the subway walls

D# D#/D CmAnd tenement halls.

D# A# CmAnd whisper'd in the sounds of silence.