The Sound Of Silence
James Last Lyrics

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I am familiar with this feeling of emptiness and sadness that I have experienced before.

I've come to talk with you again,
I am seeking solace from my loneliness by embracing it and finding comfort in it.

Because a vision softly creeping,
A thought or idea started emerging in my mind slowly and steadily.

Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
The idea that came to me began to take root in my subconsciousness while I was asleep.

And the vision that was planted in my brain
The idea that I had is now firmly embedded in my mind.

Still remains
The idea is still present and has not gone away.

Within the sound of silence.
The overwhelming quietness and emptiness around me have allowed me to focus entirely on this thought.

In restless dreams I walked alone
In my dreams, I found myself feeling restless and alone without any real purpose or direction.

Narrow streets of cobblestone,
In my dreams, I found myself wandering through deserted streets with barely any hope or optimism left.

'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
Under the soft glow of the street lamp, I became acutely aware of my loneliness and despair.

I turned my collar to the cold and damp
I wrapped my collar tighter around my neck to protect myself from the cold and damp of the night.

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
Suddenly, I was jolted awake by the bright, flashing light of a neon sign in the distance.

That split the night
The neon light was so bright that it effectively broke through the darkness and lit up the area around me.

And touched the sound of silence.
The neon light also disrupted the silence around me, essentially shattering my moment of quiet contemplation.

And in the naked light I saw
In the harsh, bright light of the neon sign, I was able to see more clearly the reality around me.

Ten thousand people, maybe more.
I saw a multitude of people around me, each feeling similarly numb and disconnected from one another.

People talking without speaking,
I noticed that many people seemed to be communicating without really connecting with one another on a deeper level.

People hearing without listening,
Even though people were technically hearing each other, they were not really listening or processing what was being said.

People writing songs that voices never share
People are able to express themselves through art, but many of those expressions are never really understood or shared with others.

And no one dare
Despite the sense of isolation and loneliness, nobody truly dares to break free from it and try to connect with others.

Disturb the sound of silence.
The silence, although painful and empty, has become somewhat comforting and familiar, and people hesitate to disrupt it.

"Fools" said I, "You do not know
I realized that many people around me are not aware of the damage that their isolation and lack of connection is doing to themselves and others.

Silence like a cancer grows.
The silence and disconnection between people has spread like a disease, and it is progressively getting worse.

Hear my words that I might teach you,
I implore people to listen to me and to try to learn from my experiences and my pain.

Take my arms that I might reach you."
I express a willingness to help others and to reach out to them so that they do not have to suffer alone.

But my words like silent raindrops fell,
My attempts to teach and connect with others fall on deaf ears and are largely ignored or overlooked.

And echoed
My words had no impact and were not taken to heart by those who heard them.

In the wells of silence
My words and attempts to connect were drowned out by the overwhelming sound of silence and disconnection around me.

And the people bowed and prayed
Even though people continue to suffer in isolation and lack of connection, they still hold onto hope and continue to pray and seek solace wherever they can find it.

To the neon god they made.
Although people have created a world of disconnection, they still cling to anything that provides light and hope- even if that means turning to manufactured, artificial sources of comfort.

And the sign flashed out its warning,
The warning signs of disconnection and isolation are ever present, and ultimately become explicitly clear to those who are willing to see them.

In the words that it was forming.
The neon sign tries to impart its message and warning, but is ultimately just another source of noise that gets lost in the chaos around it.

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Similarly to how prophets of old tried to warn people about impending danger and collapse, the neon sign warns those who are willing to listen about the danger of isolation and disconnect.

Are written on the subway walls
Just like how prophets of old would carve their warnings onto stones and other surfaces, the warning of disconnection is written on the walls and surfaces of today's modern world.

And tenement halls."
The warning signs of disconnection can be found in every dark corner of society, from the rundown tenement halls to the bustling subway stations.

And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.
Even though the message of the warning signs is lost in the noise and chaos of society, it still whispers softly in the sound of silence- a reminder that things don't have to be this way and that there is still hope for connection and understanding.