SIMON AND GARFUNKEL - THE SOUND OF SILENCE

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

SONGWRITER: PAUL SIMON

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

MUSIC FROM THE BROADWAY COMEDY

ALBUM: WEDNESDAY MORNING, 3A.M.

GRAVADORA: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GÊNERO: FOLK ROCK

ANO: 1964

"The Sound of Silence", originally "The Sounds of Silence", is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. The song was written by Paul Simon over a period of several months in 1963 and 1964. A studio audition led to the duo signing a record deal with Columbia Records, and the song was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia Studios in New York City for inclusion on their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M..

Released in October 1964, the album was a commercial failure and led to the duo breaking apart, with Paul Simon returning to England and Art Garfunkel to his studies at Columbia University. In spring 1965, the song began to attract airplay at radio stations in Boston, Massachusetts, and throughout Florida. The growing airplay led Tom Wilson, the song's producer, to remix the track, overdubbing electric instrumentation with the same musicians who backed Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". Simon & Garfunkel were not informed of the song's remix until after its release. The single was released in September 1965.

The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending January 1, 1966, leading the duo to reunite and hastily record their second album, which Columbia titled Sounds of Silence in an attempt to capitalize on the song's success. The song was a top-ten hit in multiple countries worldwide, among them Australia, Austria, West Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. Generally considered a classic folk rock song, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" in 2013 along with the rest of the Sounds of Silence album.

Originally titled "The Sounds of Silence" on Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., the song was re-titled for later compilations beginning with Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.

Simon & Garfunkel foi uma dupla norte-americana de folk composta pelos cantores e compositores Paul Simon e Art Garfunkel. Eles formaram o grupo Tom & Jerry em 1957 e emplacaram seu primeiro sucesso com o single "Hey, Schoolgirl". A dupla alçou fama em 1965 como Simon & Garfunkel na esteira do sucesso de "The Sound of Silence".

Eles são mais conhecidos por suas harmonias vocais, e estão entre os artistas mais populares da década de 1960. Seus maiores sucessos – entre eles "The Sound of Silence" (1964), "I Am a Rock" (1965), "Homeward Bound" (1965), "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (1966), "A Hazy Shade of Winter" (1966), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1969), "The Boxer" (1969) e "Cecilia" (1969) – alcançaram a primeira colocação em diversas paradas musicais. A dupla foi premiada com vários Grammys, e foi incluída no Hall da Fama do Rock and Roll em 1990, e no Hall da Fama da Música de Long Island em 2007

Hello darkness, my old friend

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 walked 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 dare

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 to 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 it's warning

In the words that it was forming

And the sign said

The words of the prophets

Are written on the subway walls

And tenement halls

And whispered in the sound of silence