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