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