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 sounds of silence.  
   
Dm                          C   
In restless dreams I walked alone  
                                Dm  
Through 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 sounds 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 shared  
           Dm   
And no one dared  
F           C         Dm   
Disturb the sounds 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                                              F  
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls  
             Dm  
And tenement halls."   
    F                C         Dm  
And whispered in the sounds of silence.