I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.
In restless dreams I walk alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
"Fools" said I,"You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, 'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.
________________________________________________________________________
This song has been one of my favourites since I first heard it when I was 10 and it's lyrics are very clever and poetic. I am also very amazed how the artist can write all these words into a song and make them all fit with each other. These lyrics uses the imagery of black and white to show how the apathy and ignorance in man's views destroys their ability to communicate even on the basic levels.
I will start with the first verse. This verse is all about the artist waking up and realizing that everyone in society chooses to remain silent because of their arrogance. An apostrophe is used when he addresses darkness and the artist says, using personification, that he had a vision in a dream which gave him a concept of people being arrogant.
The second verse is an attempt to visualize his concept within his dreams. As he walks through "narrow streets of cobblestone" he visualizes the solution to the problems people have in life and he visions that the people around him will not listen and will continue their arrogant ways ("'Neath the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp"). As he wakes up to the "commercial" and superficial ways of communicating ("when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of the neon light"), he realizes that the problem he visions in his dreams are real.
The third verse is where the song really shines. This verse is where the artist goes out and experiences the reality of his visions. He sees that people are so in to their own views on life that they don't give their heart to understand the views of others ("talking without speaking" and "hearing without listening"). Then he sees that some people "write songs that voices never share" as in they try to share their problems but no one bothers to help because they are so focused on their own view. Finally, he finds out that people are so afraid to step out of their comfort zone and scared of the judgement of others on the views of oneself that "no one dared disturb the sound of silence".
The offering of a solution is what comes in the fourth verse. He tries to wake everyone up, and he tries to tell everyone to step out of the comfort zone and support each other rather than staying silent ("fools" said I, "you do not know silence like a cancer grows"". Then, he offers help to the people ("hear my words that I might teach you, take my arms that I might reach you"), however in the end the people he tries to help thought he was idiotic and insane.
Finally, the last verse talks about the people using religion as a place to blame their problems on and to provide an false understanding of each other ("the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made"). Only then do they find out that the solution to all their problems could've been easily accomplished ("the word of the prophets are written on the subway walls"). Finally, on the last line, the silence is broken ("whispered in the sound of silence") and people start to wake up and realize that understanding each other with their hearts is the ideal way to solve each other's problems.
The theme of this song speaks of the inability of men communicating with each other. Where everyone is so arrogant of their own views that they don't dare to share or "disturb the sound of silence" because of the fear of judgement and comfort. The artist tries to offer help, but many think he's idiotic and insane until they find out from "the neon god they made" where "the sign flashed out its warning" that the solution was really right in front of them all along. So in the end, the sound of silence was broken with one whisper.
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