Intro: D5
                        C5                                   D5
Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again,
           F5             Bb5   F5                               Bb5   F5
Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping,
        Bb5                              F5                    D5     F5
And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains,
            C5          D5
Within the sound of silence.
D5                           C5                               D5
In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone,
                F5      Bb5     F5                              Bb5        F5
'Neath the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp,
         Bb5                                        F5                   D5  F5
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light that split the night,
                 C5       D5
And touched the sound of silence.
D5                        C5                              D5
And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people, maybe more,
                F5        Bb5  F5                           Bb5    F5
People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening,
        Bb5                               F5                    D5 F5
People writing songs that voices never share, and no one dare,
             C5       D5
Disturb the sound of silence.
D5                             C5                            D5
"Fools!" said I, "You do not know, silence like a cancer grows."
                    F5        Bb5    F5                              Bb5    F5
"Hear my words that I might teach you, take my arms that I might reach you."
        Bb5                          F5 D5        F5            C5      D5
But my words like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence.
                            C5                         D5
And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made,
                      F5       Bb5  F5                            Bb5   F5
And the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming,
                         Bb5
And the signs said "The words of the prophets are written 
                F5                         D5
On the subway walls, and tenement halls"
      F5                 C5       D5
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.