D#m C# Hello darkness, my old friend,

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

B F#Because a vision softly creeping,

B F#Left its seeds while I was sleeping,

B F#And the vision that was planted in my brain

F#/F D#mStill remains

F# C# D#mWithin the sound of silence.

C#In restless dreams I walked alone

D#mNarrow streets of cobblestone,

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

B F#I turned my collar to the cold and damp

B F#When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

F#/F D#mThat split the night

F# C# D#mAnd touched the sound of silence.

C#And in the naked light I saw

D#mTen thousand people, maybe more.

B F#People talking without speaking,

B F#People hearing without listening,

B F#People writing songs that voices never share

F#/F D#mAnd no one dare

F# C# D#mDisturb the sound of silence.

C#Fools said I, you do not know

D#mSilence like a cancer grows.

B F#Hear my words that I might teach you,

B F#Take my arms that I might reach you.

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

F#And echoed

C# D#mIn the wells of silence

C#And the people bowed and prayed

D#mTo the neon God they made.

B F#And the sign flashed out its warning,

B F#In the words that it was forming.

BAnd the sign said, the words of the prophets

F#Are written on the subway walls

F# F#/F D#mAnd tenement halls.

F# C# D#mAnd whisper'd in the sounds of silence.