[Verse 1]
D#m C#
Hello darkness, my old friend,
D#m
I'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#m
Still remains
F# C# D#m
Within the sound of silence.
[Verse 2]
C#
In restless dreams I walked alone
D#m
Narrow 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#m
That split the night
F# C# D#m
And touched the sound of silence.
[Verse 3]
C#
And in the naked light I saw
D#m
Ten 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#m
And no one dare
F# C# D#m
Disturb the sound of silence.
[Verse 4]
C#
Fools said I, you do not know
D#m
Silence 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#m
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
F#
And echoed
C# D#m
In the wells of silence
[Verse 5]
C#
And the people bowed and prayed
D#m
To the neon God they made.
B F#
And the sign flashed out its warning,
B F#
In the words that it was forming.
B
And the sign said, the words of the prophets
F#
Are written on the subway walls
F# F#/F D#m
And tenement halls.
F# C# D#m
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.