A       B       C#m     D#      E       
<====>  <====>  <====>  <====>  <====>  
 |O||    ||||    OO||    |||O    O|||   
 O|||    ||OO    ||||    ||||    |||O   
 ||||    |O||    ||||    |OO|    ||||   
 ||||    O|||    |||O    ||||    |O||   
.||||   .||||   .||||   .||||   .||||   
 ||||    ||||    ||||    ||||    ||||   

[Verse 1]
C#m                       B
   Hello darkness, my old friend,
                           C#m
I've come to talk with you again,
                     A       E
Because a vision softly creeping,
                       A       E
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
        A                             E
And the vision that was planted in my brain
            E/D# C#m
Still remains
E          B       C#m
Within the sound of silence.


[Verse 2]
                             B
In restless dreams I walked alone
                        C#m
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
                   A        E
'neath the halo of a street lamp,
                          A        E
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
        A                                        E
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
                    E/D# C#m
That split the night
 E             B       C#m
And touched the sound of silence.


[Verse 3]
                         B
And in the naked light I saw
                           C#m
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
                   A       E
People talking without speaking,
                   A        E
People hearing without listening,
               A                       E
People writing songs that voices never share
              E/D# C#m
And no one dare
E          B       C#m
Disturb the sound of silence.


[Verse 4]
                         B
Fools said I, you do not know
                      C#m
Silence like a cancer grows.
                     A           E
Hear my words that I might teach you,
                    A           E
Take my arms that I might reach you.
       A                           E  E/D# C#m
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
   E
And echoed
       B       C#m
In the wells of silence


[Verse 5]
                         B
And the people bowed and prayed
                     C#m
To the neon God they made.
                         A      E
And the sign flashed out its warning,
                      A     E
In the words that it was forming.
                       A
And the sign said, the words of the prophets
                           E
Are written on the subway walls
             E    E/D# C#m
And tenement halls.
         E          B        C#m
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.