Sounds Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel

[Carl]

I'm pretty sure this event had nothing to do with the song, but I wanted to check with you all just in case:

Song Name: Sounds of Silence

Artist: Simon and Garfunkel

SongFacts: This song was written after Paul Simon read an article about a woman who was murdered in New York City in 1964. She was attacked by her killer and stabbed once near her apartment building, and the killer fled. Later she was in her building and still alive when he stabbed her a second time, where she proceeded to scream for help. He finally killed her with a third stabbing. Throughout the entire time 37 witnesses had seen her being attacked and had done nothing. It was only until a man in her building called the police, did they find out about her. When asked about why they had done nothing, people responding by saying "It was too late," "I went to bed" and "if you don't get out of my face, I'll push you done the stairs." It turned out that majority of the people were immigrants from Germany who had survived the Holocaust and the war, and had tried to speak up about what Nazis were doing to people, and were in turn thrown into concentration camps themselves. One person told police, "Last time I talked to the police about someone being murdered, it nearly cost me my life," Its the sound of silence.

[_jr_]

I've never heard that. Either way, though, it is a stark and chilling story.

[windy1]

Oh my. If that's true ( I've never heard that) it changes the whole meaning of the song for me. It's not unbelievable that that could happen though.

[Jugband_Blues]

you know, i've actually heard that story (or a variation of it) before. truly depressing. i never really thought of it relating to that song though.

[Mike]

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

Paul said once he would go off into the bathroom because it had tiles so it would give a slight echo, listen to the soothing sound of water running and play in the dark, hence "Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again".

Art said it was about peoples inability the communicate with one another, not on purpose, that what you see in peoples inability to love one another, this is the sound of silence.

Mike

[bluesboy]

Here's more info from Amg

[edna]

I didn´t know about that... I´ll try to search tomorrow and find some info I have on a book... anyay, I read in an interview what Garfunkel said, same thing than in PF´s post... I love this song... I guess Rico knows about it too!

[windy1]

That sounds more like it!

[katie_sane]

I had no idea about that story. What Mike said sounds more on the money.

[_Laurie_]

i thought maybe it was about war...i never heard about that other story

[edna]

All I found in my "Sounds of Silence" chapter of the Rock Encyclopaedia is already in Songfacts or has already been posted in this thread. They just talk about incommunication and all that...

[ImThatGuyToo]

article on the murder, in case anyone wants more information.

[AdmiralHalsey]

For anyone who clicked that linked and read through it, does it bother you that the information doesnt seem completely legit necessarily? In chapter 3, it says that the murderer was five foot one, where as in chapter 5 it says that he was five foot eight. Im not saying that i wasnt completely touched by the story and all, all im saying is that the fact that some of the information doesnt seem to match up gives me an untrusting feeling, as if some of the facts were blown out of proportion... this reply is basically pointless, it doesnt even matter really.