The Sound of Silence

Not to be confused with Sound of Silence (Dami Im song).
"The Sound of Silence"
Single by Simon & Garfunkel
from the album Wednesday Morning, 3 AM and Sounds of Silence
B-side "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"
Released
  • Original recording:
  • October 1964
  • Overdubbed version:
    September 13, 1965
Format 7" single
Recorded
  • March 10, 1964
  • Columbia Studios, New York City
  • June 15, 1965
  • (overdubbed version)
Genre
Length 3:05
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Paul Simon
Producer(s) Tom Wilson
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Simon & Garfunkel singles chronology
"I'm Lonesome" (1963) "The Sound of Silence"
(1965)		 "Homeward Bound"
(1966)
Sounds of Silence track listing
"The Sound of Silence"
(1)		 "Leaves That Are Green"
(2)
Audio sample
file info · help

"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 the period of several months between 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, Ireland, 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., as well as on the single release and Sounds of Silence album, the song was re-titled for later compilations beginning with Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.[1][2]

Heavy metal band Disturbed covered the song in 2015, which became very popular.[3]

"The Sound of Silence"
Song by Paul Simon from the album The Paul Simon Songbook
Released August 1965
Recorded June–July 1965
Length 3:19
Label CBS
Producer
  • Reginald Warburghton
  • Stanley West

Background

Origin and original recording

Paul Simon, the song's composer, seen here in 1966.

Simon & Garfunkel became interested in folk music and the growing counterculture movement separately in the early 1960s. Having performed together previously under the name Tom and Jerry in the late 1950s, their partnership had since dissolved when they began attending college. In 1963, they regrouped and began performing Simon's original compositions around their hometown of Queens. They billed themselves "Kane & Garr", after old recording pseudonyms, and signed up for Gerde's Folk City, a Greenwich Village club that hosted Monday night performances.[4] In September 1963, the duo performed three new songs, among them "The Sound of Silence", getting the attention of Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson, who worked with Bob Dylan.[4][5] Simon convinced Wilson to let him and his partner have a studio audition, where a performance of "The Sound of Silence" got the duo signed to Columbia.[6]

The song's origin and basis remains unclear, with multiple answers coming forward over the years. Many believe that the song commented on the John F. Kennedy assassination, as the song was released three months after the assassination.[4] Simon stated unambiguously in interviews however, "I wrote The Sound of Silence when I was 21 years old",[7][8] which places the timeframe firmly prior to the JFK tragedy, with Simon also explaining that the song was written in his bathroom, where he turned off the lights to better concentrate.[5] "The main thing about playing the guitar, though, was that I was able to sit by myself and play and dream. And I was always happy doing that. I used to go off in the bathroom, because the bathroom had tiles, so it was a slight echo chamber. I'd turn on the faucet so that water would run (I like that sound, it's very soothing to me) and I'd play. In the dark. 'Hello darkness, my old friend / I've come to talk with you again'."[9] In a more recent interview, Simon was directly asked, "How is a 21 year old person thinkin' about the words in that song?" His reply was, "I have no idea."[10] According to Garfunkel, Simon originally wrote the lyric as "Aloha darkness, my old friend."[11] Garfunkel once summed up the song's meaning as "the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other."[5]

To promote the release of their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., the duo performed again at Folk City, as well as two shows at the Gaslight Café, which went over poorly. Dave Van Ronk, a folk singer, was at the performances, and noted that several in the audience regarded their music as a joke.[12] "'Sounds of Silence' actually became a running joke: for a while there, it was only necessary to start singing 'Hello darkness, my old friend...' and everybody would crack up."[13] Wednesday Morning, 3 AM sold only 3,000 copies upon its October release, and its dismal sales led Simon to move to London, England.[14] While there, he recorded a solo album, The Paul Simon Songbook (1965), which features a rendition of the song, titled "The Sounds of Silence".[15]

Remix

The song's heavy airplay in Cocoa Beach, Florida alerted Columbia to release the single.

Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. had been a commercial failure before producer Tom Wilson was alerted that radio stations had begun to play "The Sound of Silence" in spring 1965. A late-night disc jockey at WBZ in Boston began to spin "The Sound of Silence" overnight, where it found a college demographic.[16] Students at Harvard and Tufts University responded well, and the song made its way down the East Coast pretty much "overnight", "all the way to Cocoa Beach, Florida, where it caught the students coming down for spring break."[16] A promotional executive for Columbia went to give away free albums of new artists, and beach-goers only were interested in the artists behind "The Sound of Silence". He phoned the home office in New York, alerting them of its appeal.[17] An alternate version of the story states that Wilson attended Columbia's July 1965 convention in Miami, where the head of the local sales branch raved about the song's airplay.[18]

Folk rock was beginning to make waves on pop radio, with Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" (also a Dylan song) charting high.[19] Wilson listened to the song several times, considering it too soft for a wide release.[16] Afterwards, he turned on the Byrds' "Turn! Turn! Turn!", which gave him the idea to remix the song, overdubbing rock instrumentation.[20] He employed the same musicians Dylan worked with on "Like a Rolling Stone": Al Gorgoni (and Vinnie Bell) on guitar, Bob Bushnell on bass, and Bobby Gregg on drums (Wilson intentionally left off Simon's friend Al Kooper, who was too closely identified by Dylan's sound).[21] The tempo on the original recording was uneven, making it difficult for the musicians to keep the song in time.[19] Engineer Roy Halee employed a heavy echo on the remix, which was a common trait of the Byrds' hits.[19] The single was first serviced to college FM rock stations, and a commercial single release followed on September 13, 1965.[18] The lack of consultation with Simon and Garfunkel on Wilson's remix was because, although still contracted to Columbia Records at the time, the musical duo at that time was no longer a "working entity".[19][22]

In the fall of 1965, Simon was in Denmark, performing at small clubs, and picked up a copy of Billboard, as he had routinely done for several years.[18] Upon seeing "The Sounds of Silence" in the Billboard Hot 100, he bought a copy of Cashbox and saw the same thing. Several days later, Garfunkel excitedly called Simon to inform him of the single's growing success.[18] A copy of the 7" single arrived in the mail the next day, and according to friend Al Stewart, "[Paul] was horrified when he first heard it [...] [when the] rhythm section slowed down at one point so that Paul and Artie’s voices could catch up."[20] Garfunkel was far less concerned about the remix, feeling conditioned to the process of trying to create a hit single: "It's interesting. I suppose it might do something. It might sell," he told Wilson.[23]

Chart performance

"The Sound of Silence" first broke in Boston, where it became one of the top-selling singles in early November 1965;[18][24] it spread to Miami and Washington, D.C. two weeks later, reaching number one in Boston and debuting on the Billboard Hot 100.[25]

Throughout the month of January 1966 "The Sound of Silence" had a one-on-one battle with The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" for the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The former was #1 for the weeks of January 1 and 22 and #2 for the intervening two weeks. The latter held the top spot for the weeks of January 8, 15, and 29, and was #2 for the two weeks that "The Sound of Silence" was #1. Overall, "The Sound of Silence" spent 14 weeks on the Billboard chart.[26]

In the wake of the song's success, Simon promptly returned to the United States to record a new Simon & Garfunkel album at Columbia's request. He later described his experiences learning the song went to No. 1, a story he repeated in numerous interviews:[27]

I had come back to New York, and I was staying in my old room at my parents' house. Artie was living at his parents' house, too. I remember Artie and I were sitting there in my car one night, parked on a street in Queens, and the announcer [on the radio] said, "Number one, Simon & Garfunkel." And Artie said to me, "That Simon & Garfunkel, they must be having a great time." Because there we were on a street corner [in my car in] Queens, smoking a joint. We didn't know what to do with ourselves.[28]

For his part, Garfunkel had a different memory of the song's success:

We were in L.A. Our manager called us at the hotel we were staying at. We were both in the same room. We must have bunked in the same room in those days. I picked up the phone. He said, 'Well, congratulations. Next week you will go from five to one in Billboard.' It was fun. I remember pulling open the curtains and letting the brilliant sun come into this very red room, and then ordering room service. That was good."[27][29]

Reception

In 1999, BMI named "The Sound of Silence" as the 18th most-performed song of the 20th century.[30] In 2004, it was ranked No. 156 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, one of the duo's three songs on the list. The song is now considered "the quintessential folk rock release".[31]

On March 21, 2013, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for long-term preservation along with the rest of the Sounds of Silence album.[32]

In popular culture

When director Mike Nichols and Sam O'Steen were editing the 1967 film The Graduate, they initially timed some scenes to this song intending to substitute original music for the scenes. However, they eventually concluded that the song could not be adequately substituted and decided to purchase the rights for the song for the soundtrack. This was an unusual decision for the time, as the song had charted over a year earlier and recycling established music for film was not commonly done.[33] With the practice of using well-known songs for films becoming commonplace, "The Sound of Silence" has since been used for other films, such as Kingpin (1996), Old School (2003), Bobby (2006) and Watchmen (2009). In the German TV movie Ein Drilling Kommt Selten Allein the song was sung by grandparents to calm down crying triplets. It appeared on the fourth season of the television series Arrested Development in 2013 as a running gag of characters' inner reflections.

In the Rush song "The Spirit of Radio", the final lines are a satirical homage to the final lines of "The Sound of Silence": "For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall". In the liner notes, the lyrics spell the word 'profits' and not 'prophets'. This ironic twist is consistent with the song's theme of criticizing how money has damaged the integrity of the music industry, particularly in radio.

A cover of the song is featured in the Gears of War 4 trailer: Tomorrow

Chart and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1966–68) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 3
Austrian Singles Chart 3
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[34] 11
West German Media Control Charts 9
Ireland Singles Chart 5
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart 1
Netherlands Singles Chart 10
Spanish Singles Chart[35] 17
Swiss Singles Chart[36] 94
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
Zimbabwe Singles Chart[37] 3

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Italy (FIMI)[38] Gold 25,000
United States (RIAA)[39] Gold 1,000,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Preceded by
"C C C" (ja) by The Tigers (ja)		 Japanese Oricon Singles Chart number-one single
September 9 – 16, 1968 		Succeeded by
"Koi no Kisetsu" (ja) by Pinky & Killers (ja)
Preceded by
"Over and Over" by The Dave Clark Five		 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
January 1, 1966 		Succeeded by
"We Can Work It Out" by The Beatles
Preceded by
"We Can Work It Out" by The Beatles		 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
January 22, 1966
(second run) 		Succeeded by
"We Can Work It Out" by The Beatles

Disturbed version

"The Sound of Silence"
Single by Disturbed
from the album Immortalized
Released December 7, 2015
Format
Length 4:08
Label Reprise
Writer(s) Paul Simon
Producer(s) Kevin Churko
Disturbed singles chronology
"The Light"
(2015)		 "The Sound of Silence"
(2015)

A cover version was released by American heavy metal band Disturbed on December 7, 2015.[40] A music video was released on December 7, 2015.[41] Their cover hit number one on the Billboard Hard Rock Digital Songs[42] and Mainstream Rock charts,[43] and is their highest charting song on the Hot 100,[44] peaking at number 42. It is also their highest charting single in Australia, peaking at number 4. Their version appeared in the trailer for Gears of War 4.

Weekly charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[45] 4
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[46] 40
Ireland (IRMA)[47] 82
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[48] 37
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[49] 45
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[50] 29
US Billboard Hot 100[51] 42
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[52] 3
US Rock Airplay (Billboard)[53] 9
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[54] 23
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[55] 1
US Hard Rock Digital Songs (Billboard)[42] 1

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[56] Platinum 70,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)[57] Gold 7,500

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Other cover versions

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Mastropolo, Frank (March 10, 2015). "51 Years Ago: Simon & Garfunkel Record Their First Classic, 'The Sounds of Silence'". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  2. ↑ "Simon & Garfunkel – Simon And Garfunkel's Greatest Hits". Discogs.
  3. ↑ jeffgiles (April 4, 2016). "Paul Simon Endorses Disturbed's 'Sound of Silence' Cover". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  4. 1 2 3 Eliot 2010, p. 39.
  5. 1 2 3 Eliot 2010, p. 40.
  6. ↑ Eliot 2010, p. 42.
  7. ↑ Paul Simon - Interview - 7/6/1986 (video, Music Vault - He repeats the statement at 37m14s - at the 40min point he explains how his song American Tune was about the subject that covered the Kennedy assassinations)
  8. ↑ Paul Simon chats about his youth. April 19, 2011 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Schwartz, Tony (February 1984). "Playboy Interview" (PDF). Playboy 31 (2): 49–51, 162–176.
  10. ↑ Paul Simon opens up about hit songs' inspiration. June 5, 2012 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Fornatale 2007, p. 38.
  12. ↑ Eliot 2010, p. 47.
  13. ↑ Eliot 2010, p. 48.
  14. ↑ Eliot 2010, p. 53.
  15. ↑ Eliot 2010, p. 58.
  16. 1 2 3 Eliot 2010, p. 64.
  17. ↑ Joe Bosso (August 1, 2012). "Interview: Art Garfunkel on his new greatest hits CD, The Singer". Music Radar.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 Sullivan, Steve (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 2. pp. 109–110.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Simons, David. Studio Stories. pp. 95–96.
  20. 1 2 Eliot 2010, p. 65.
  21. ↑ Charlesworth, Chris (1996). "Sound of Silence". The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel. Omnibus Press. pp. 17–18.
  22. ↑ Simons, David (2004). Studio Stories: How the Great New York Records Were Made. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 94–97.
  23. ↑ Fornatale 2007, p. 45.
  24. ↑ "Top Sellers in Top Markets" 77 (45). Billboard. November 6, 1965: 14. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Top Sellers in Top Markets" 77 (47). Billboard. November 20, 1965: 14–15. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  26. ↑ Billboard Charts Archives for 1965 and 1966
  27. 1 2 Fornatale 2007, p. 47.
  28. ↑ Eliot 2010, p. 66.
  29. ↑ Fornatale 2007, p. 48.
  30. ↑ "BMI Top 100 Songs of the Century: 8 Million+ Performances" at the Wayback Machine (archived July 12, 2001), 1999 (archive.org copy)
  31. ↑ Hoffmann, Frank (2005). "Folk Rock". Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. Volume 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 408. ISBN 0-415-93835-X.
  32. ↑ "Simon & Garfunkel song among those to be preserved". CFN13. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  33. ↑ Harris, Mark (2008). Pictures at a Revolution. Penguin. pp. 360–1.
  34. ↑ "The Sounds of Silence". Retrieved September 17, 2012.
  35. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  36. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "Simon & Garfunkel: The Sounds of Silence". swisscharts.com. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  37. ↑
    • Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: singles chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000
  38. ↑ "Italian single certifications – Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Select Online in the field Sezione. Enter Simon & Garfunkel in the field Filtra. The certification will load automatically
  39. ↑ "American single certifications – Simon & Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 17, 2014. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  40. ↑ "Disturbed Return with 'Immortalized' - Billboard". Billboard.
  41. ↑ "Video Premiere: Disturbed's Cover Version Of Simon & Garfunkel's 'The Sound Of Silence'". Blabbermouth.
  42. 1 2 "Hard Rock Digital Songs, Jan 2, 2016". Billboard. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  43. ↑ "The Sound of Silence-d Guitars: Disturbed's Haunting Simon & Garfunkel Cover Tops Mainstream Rock Songs Chart". Billboard.
  44. ↑ "Simon & Garfunkel's 'Sound of Silence' Hits Hot Rock Songs Top 10, Thanks to 'Sad Affleck'". Billboard.
  45. ↑ "ARIA Australian Top 50 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. April 11, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  46. ↑ "Disturbed – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for Disturbed. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  47. ↑ "Chart Track: Week 18, 2016". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  48. ↑ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. May 9, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  49. ↑ "Sverigetopplistan - Sveriges Officiella Topplista".
  50. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2016-05-12" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  51. ↑ "Disturbed – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Disturbed. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  52. ↑ "Disturbed – Chart history" Billboard Hot Rock Songs for Disturbed. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  53. ↑ "Disturbed – Chart history" Billboard Rock Airplay for Disturbed. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  54. ↑ "Disturbed – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for Disturbed. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  55. ↑ "Disturbed – Chart history" Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs for Disturbed. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  56. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (April 30, 2016). "ARIA Singles: Pink Tops Chart But Prince Dominates". Noise11. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  57. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Disturbed – The Sound of Silence". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  58. ↑ "'Het geluid van stilte' lyrics". Boudewijn de Groot homepage. Boudewijndegroot.nl. January 22, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  59. ↑ "Covers by Los Mustang". WhoSampled.
  60. ↑ "The Soul Vendors and The Gaylads cover of Simon & Garfunkel's The Sounds of Silence - WhoSampled". WhoSampled.
  61. ↑ Mercy, Love Can Make You Happy Retrieved May 7, 2015
  62. ↑ "Vlada I Bajka: Cecilia / Zvuk Tišine (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  63. ↑ "The Dickies: silent night / sounds of silence 7" [FLEX! discography]".
  64. ↑ Leonardo. "Leonardo: Discografia" (Flash) (in Portuguese). Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  65. ↑ Lescharts.com Allisob [FR - "The Sound of Silence" song page

Bibliography

External links

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