| Lam Sol | Hello darkness, my old friend |
| Sol Lam | I've come to talk with you again |
| Fa Do | Because a vision softly creeping |
| Fa Do | Left its seeds while I was sleeping |
| Fa Do | And the vision that was planted in my brain |
| Lam | Still remains |
| Sol Lam | Within the sound of silence |
| | |
| Lam Sol | In restless dreams I walked alone |
| Sol Lam | Narrow streets of cobblestone |
| Fa Do | 'Neath the halo of a street lamp |
| Fa Do | I turned my collar to the cold and damp |
| Fa Do | When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light |
| Lam | That split the night |
| Do Sol Lam | And touched the sound of silence |
| | |
| Lam Sol | And in the naked light I saw |
| Sol Lam | Ten thousand people, maybe more |
| Fa Do | People talking without speaking |
| Fa Do | People hearing without listening |
| Fa Do | People writing songs that voices never share |
| Lam | And no one dared |
| Do Sol Lam | Disturb the sound of silence |
| | |
| Lam Sol | "Fools", said I, "You do not know |
| Sol Lam | Silence like a cancer grows |
| Fa Do | Hear my words that I might teach you |
| Fa Do | Take my arms that I might reach you" |
| Fa Do Lam | But my words, like silent raindrops fell |
| Do | And echoed |
| Sol Lam | In the wells of silence |
| | |
| Lam Sol | And the people bowed and prayed |
| Sol Lam | To the neon god they made |
| Fa Do | And the sign flashed out its warning |
| Fa Do | In the words that it was forming |
| Fa Do | And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls |
| Lam | And tenement halls" |
| Do Sol Lam | And whispered in the sounds of silence |
| | |