The Sound of Silence
Sound of silence art song was composed and released in 1964 by Paul Simon and Garfunkel; it is one of the most iconic recordings in the history of rock-and-roll. The song was integrated into a film “the graduate” where the film director (Mike Nichols) used it as a work track, and later it became the perfect song for the film after its tone fitted properly with the theme of the film. Simon demonstrated most of his principles, which the music did not react initially. He elevated the poetic tone in lyric writing to the antithesis of rock-and-roll after his self-conscious aspiration. He later returned to integrate the doo-wop vocal harmony after becoming obsessed with teenage street music in the 1950s. The song is an oxymoron, which is the incorporation of words with the opposite meaning. For instance, the heading of the song “the sound of silence” explains the communication difficulties among people about their lives.
Although it is uncertain about the kind of vision, the singer speculates on injustices, manipulations, brainwashing, and oppression. Without bothering what is behind “while I was sleeping” and a flash of neon, he slowly connects all these icons of the world to form a broad picture. He is the only one who sees a mass of people oppressed and systems unjust to them, but he still ignores them. The neon light represents a deceitful life that prevents us from realizing the value of our life.
The singer in the song wanted to tell about his dream up after waking up on a dark night. He addresses the darkness as the available friend at that moment as he had done it before to another person. He describes an incident that occurred while he was sleeping that the vision left its seeds, and it was deeply rooted in his brain. He had no words to describe the vision, which he could only realize. The singer Simon has restless dreams that wake him up to walk alone under a streetlight in narrow stresses. At some point when he turns his collar, he would experience a reflection of neon light flash, making a daylight scene that explained the meaning of silence and that everyone is indulged in bad condition. The flash of light he would see tens of thousands of people expressing thoughts without using voice, the neon light representing something has come to distract him and get him occupied like the others. Although they received sounds, they were not attentive to hearing, composing songs that nobody was singing, and none could break the silence.
The speaker in his dream says silence is like cancer, and the people are fools; they did not respond to his request to hold arms and listen to his advice. His words were like raindrops on them made no effect on them; they worshiped their neon God instead. The neon lights had to follow the commands of the producers, who painted their products on subway walls and in a large building to advertise them, which the light showed without a voice. The sound of silence has five irregular stanzas used to present battle between the material and spiritual value in the modern world. The persona uses his visions to warn against a lack of spiritual firmness amongst the modern people. The persona begins the poem by addressing the darkness by saying that he had come to talk to darkness. The reason for addressing is that a vision had planted its seeds in his brain while sleeping, and the vision remains there as a sound of silence.
The poet experiences restless dreams that wake him up to walk alone in the darkness to a place where he finds many people hearing without listening and talking without speaking while composing songs that do not shave voices, and no one attempts to break the silence. The persona requests them to listen to him and hold his hands, but his words cannot be heard. The poem is a bitter satire concerning the affinity the modern people have towards material things. The modern people have lost the real value and meaning of life by struggling for luxury and prosperity of material. They were gathering a lot of material wealth, which does not make them happy. They have ignored the true meaning and value of life, causing them to diverge from true happiness and peace. They engage in fights and conflicts daily as they watch and listen to worthless things. This is why the poet persona refers to talking without speaking and hearing without listening.
According to Paul Simon, international companies, industries, and the capitalists have occupied the place of God on earth by directing and dictating peoples’ goals, needs, and choices through their profitmaking advertisements. The neon lights and signs have taken over the places of Holy Scriptures in walls and subways; they are dictated to listen to and see what the adverts say and work according to what they want. The people neither own a choice nor voice about the advertisements they can only choose among the presented goals and work towards achieving them according to the industrialist. They cannot hear the voices telling them what their purpose is; it is the dominance of the money-oriented waves that defeat the voices calling them to hold the persona’s hand. The people again are unwilling to listen to such voices, and if they listen, it isn’t elementary for them to follow.
When people lack religion, they try to find the meaning of life elsewhere unknowingly; they find their belongings instead of finding their purpose. The last phrase elicits the incomplete conditioning of people in pitiable environments when they can recognize the exposure of their lives to doom. The poet presents a terrifying image of the ruined world by a lack of spiritual sustenance and the true meaning of life. It is the call of the voice of the visionary, calling people to be more concerned about their life goal and the true essence of their life.