Ami                    G
1. Hello darkness my old friend
                                Ami
   I've come to talk with you again
                           F    C
   because a vision softly creeping
                            F    C
   left it seeds while I was sleeping
           F                             C
   and the vision that was planted in my brain
          Ami                G        Ami
   still remains   within the sound of silence.

    Ami                    G
2. In restless dreams I walked alone
                             Ami
   narrow streets of cobble-stone
                           F    C
   neath the halo of a street lamp
                           F    C
   I turned my collar to the cold and damp
          F                             C
   when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
          Ami                G        Ami
   that spilt the night and touched the sound of silence.

     Ami                    G
3. And in the naked light I saw
                                Ami
   ten thousand people maybe more
                          F    C
   people talking without speaking
                          F    C
   people hearing without listening
           F                             C
   people writing songs that voices never share
          Ami                G        Ami
   and no one dare disturb the sound of silence.

     Ami                    G
4. "Fools!" said I "you do not know
                          Ami
   silence like a cancer grows
                           F    C
   hear my words that I might teach you
                           F    C
   take my armsthat I might reach you."
           F                             C
   But my words like silent raindrops fell
           Ami                G        Ami
   and echoed in the wells of silence.

     Ami                    G
5. And the people bowed and prayed
                         Ami
   to the neon god they made
                              F    C
   and the sign flashed out its warning
                          F    C
   in the words that it was forming and the sign said:
           F                             C
   "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
            Ami                G        Ami
   and tenament halls" and whisper'd in the sound of silence.