Dm C Hello darkness, my old friend,

DmI've come to talk with you again,

A# FBecause a vision softly creeping,

A# FLeft its seeds while I was sleeping,

A# FAnd the vision that was planted in my brain

F/E DmStill remains

F C DmWithin the sound of silence.

CIn restless dreams I walked alone

DmNarrow streets of cobblestone,

A# F'neath the halo of a street lamp,

A# FI turned my collar to the cold and damp

A# FWhen my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

F/E DmThat split the night

F C DmAnd touched the sound of silence.

CAnd in the naked light I saw

DmTen thousand people, maybe more.

A# FPeople talking without speaking,

A# FPeople hearing without listening,

A# FPeople writing songs that voices never share

F/E DmAnd no one dare

F C DmDisturb the sound of silence.

CFools said I, you do not know

DmSilence like a cancer grows.

A# FHear my words that I might teach you,

A# FTake my arms that I might reach you.

A# F F/E DmBut my words like silent raindrops fell,

FAnd echoed

C DmIn the wells of silence

CAnd the people bowed and prayed

DmTo the neon God they made.

A# FAnd the sign flashed out its warning,

A# FIn the words that it was forming.

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

FAre written on the subway walls

F F/E DmAnd tenement halls.

F C DmAnd whisper'd in the sounds of silence.