[Verse 1]
A#m G#
Hello darkness, my old friend,
A#m
I've come to talk with you again,
F# C#
Because a vision softly creeping,
F# C#
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
F# C#
And the vision that was planted in my brain
C#/C A#m
Still remains
C# G# A#m
Within the sound of silence.
[Verse 2]
G#
In restless dreams I walked alone
A#m
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
F# C#
'neath the halo of a street lamp,
F# C#
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
F# C#
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
C#/C A#m
That split the night
C# G# A#m
And touched the sound of silence.
[Verse 3]
G#
And in the naked light I saw
A#m
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
F# C#
People talking without speaking,
F# C#
People hearing without listening,
F# C#
People writing songs that voices never share
C#/C A#m
And no one dare
C# G# A#m
Disturb the sound of silence.
[Verse 4]
G#
Fools said I, you do not know
A#m
Silence like a cancer grows.
F# C#
Hear my words that I might teach you,
F# C#
Take my arms that I might reach you.
F# C# C#/C A#m
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
C#
And echoed
G# A#m
In the wells of silence
[Verse 5]
G#
And the people bowed and prayed
A#m
To the neon God they made.
F# C#
And the sign flashed out its warning,
F# C#
In the words that it was forming.
F#
And the sign said, the words of the prophets
C#
Are written on the subway walls
C# C#/C A#m
And tenement halls.
C# G# A#m
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.