Em                        D
Hello, darkness, my old friend
                            Em
I've come to talk with you again
                      C    G
Because a vision softly creeping
                        C    G
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
          C             C
And the vision that was planted
         G
In my brain
           G  Em  G
Still remains
            D           Em
Within the sound of silence

                              D
In restless dreams I walked alone
                          Em
Narrow streets of cobblestone
                   C    G
'Neath the halo of a streetlamp
                           C    G
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
         C
When my eyes were stabbed
                         G
By the flash of a neon light
                   G  Em  G
That split the night
                 D          Em
And touched the sound of silence

                          D
And in the naked light I saw
                            Em
Ten thousand people, maybe more
                    C     G
People talking without speaking
                    C     G
People hearing without listening
                 C
People writing songs
                   G
That voices never share
               G  Em  G
And no one dared
             D           Em
Disturb the sound of silence

                           D
Fools, said I, you do not know?
                        Em
Silence like a cancer grows
                        C     G
Hear my words, that I might teach you
                       C      G
Take my arms, that I might reach you
         C                          G  
But my words like silent raindrops fell
Em   G             D          Em
And echoed in the wells of silence

                            D
And the people bowed and prayed
                      Em
To the neon God they made
                         C    G
And the sign flashed out its warning
                      C    G
In the words that it was forming

And the sign said
      C
The words of the prophets are written
                G
On the subway walls
           G
And tenement halls
Em   G                 D         Em
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence