Sounds Of Silence

I’m a great fan of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence.”  The tune is haunting and meaningful.  To hear it sung in a special way, listen to Tom Hall on America’s Got Talent.  He is a semi-finalist.  Here are the lyrics:

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 shared

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

Then the sign said, "The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls

In tenement halls"

And whispered in the sound of silence

According to one interpretation, the key message of “The Sounds of Silence” is that we never have to stay quiet; we should not be afraid of speaking out, both in our personal and our social life.  Moreover, “Because a vision softly creeping left its seeds while I was sleeping,” is a comment about the creep of oppression, injustice, manipulation, and brainwashing when we are sleeping – not paying attention to this type of darkness that is our “old friend” when we are steeped in despair and fear.  We must disturb the sounds of silence by using our voices to speak out and push back against those wanting us to be their mindless sheep.  Silence is like a growing cancer.

I can almost imagine Jesus singing this song as a sermon to us.  He might have sung: 

“…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

Then the sign said, ‘The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls

In tenement halls’

And whispered in the sound of silence.”

He also would sing: “Hear my words that I might teach you; take my arms that I might reach you"

In other words, Jesus warns us against “neon gods” with their “flashing signs” drawing us near for worship.  His words “are written on the subway walls and in tenement halls" for the poor to hear.  They must never be whispered by us as sounds of silence.  

We must never be one of the "ten thousand people, maybe more" who talk without speaking or hear without listening.

Deacon David Pierce