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hmmm
Both Simon and Garfunkel were jewish, so saying that The Sound of Silence is stock-full of christian images is not exactly accurate, considering that they were both practicing jews. Saying "religious" imagery may be a better way.
I've wondered this too, and have left a note at Talk:Paul Simon asking about his religious affiliation. There are other songs on "Wednesday Morning 3 AM" that are distinctly christian, much more obviously so than "The Sound of Silence": "You Can Tell The World", "Benedictus", "Go Tell It On The Mountain". Of course, S&G didn't write those songs, but they did choose to sing them. -- Angr/ tɔk tə mi 09:42, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
Most of the things on the internet, especially the interviews with S&G say that the song is about alienation and society's inability to communicate on an emotional level. As a christian, I really do not see any link to the book of Exodus here. Yes, there is a little "religious" language, but it's a poetic thing - it provides a wonderful contrast between the light and dark, the gentle and the harsh. These are the bigger themes in the song.
The "Bowed and prayed to the neon god they made" bit kind of reminded me of the whole golden calf debacle in the old testament, but I didn't really think that's what it was actually supposed to be about. I just figured it represented the "shiny objects" that distract us from one another.-- 71.229.77.97 ( talk) 18:59, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
I traveled to Latin America last year and there they sing a traditional catholic hymn that has the same exact melody as this song. I don't know the hymn's name but clearly Simon and Garfunkel took the melody. -- 24.226.31.126 ( talk) 22:55, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Actually, the hymn's name is Padre Nuestro (Our Father). Its melody is originally from Simon and Garfunkel (being The Sound of Silence), and the Latin Americans adapted it to be a more Catholic song.
Also noted the reference to a "false" god in the article when discussing the "neon god" lyric. The term "false god" is not found in the song and no sources have been provided to suggest this Christian association. I'd suggest this should be changed unless anyone has justification for it? SycamoreWood ( talk) 11:09, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
Is there any reason why this article shouldn't contain the entire lyrics for this song?-- User:Gravinos 02:31, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
This whole section is based on quotes found on a webpage with no references or citations. Can we please find sources for any of these?
It's "Sounds" not "Sound" Zazaban 05:02, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
From the first paragraph: It was written by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
From History section: This song, contrary to all popular belief, was not written by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Like many other Simon and Garfunkel songs, it was written by a man under contract with them who would ask for his time to be witheld.
These two bits of information can't both be right. WHICH ONE is right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wendingwanderer ( talk • contribs) 00:51, August 26, 2007 (UTC)
This article states in the opening section that the song reached #1 on New Years Day 1966 (Jan 1, 1966). Later in the article, it states that it reached Number One on US charts late 1965, and early 1966, causing them to reunite. It then states that their next album 'Sound of Silence' was hastily recorded Dec 1965 - Jan 1966. How could they do this without being back together which didn't happen until at least 1966? Donnyj ( talk) 22:55, 29 April 2008 (UTC)Donnyj
The article is wrong. I'll fix it. Simon & Garfunkel reunited in December 1965, primarily to record most of the tracks for Sounds Of Silence. The original track of Simon & Garfunkel's vocals and acoustic guitar of "The Sounds of Silence" single was from Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., recorded 10 March 1964. Tom Wilson held an overdub session on 15 June 1965 to record the electric guitar, bass, and drums for the single track. The B-side "We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'" was recorded on 5 April 1965. The single was released in September 1965. Once the single entered the charts in the fall of 1965, Simon returned to the USA from Europe, where he had been performing solo for several months prior. See my page here: [1] Absecon 59 ( talk) 12:20, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
The edition I saw made this statement: "The single was released in September 1965 and immediately began climbing the charts." It appears that the phrase, "immediately began climbing the charts," is pure rhetoric, without any factual backup. In point of fact, the record was released on September 18. It was not listed on the Billboard Hot 100 until November 20, and the ARSA does not list it as being on any radio station's charts prior to October 11. Therefore I am removing this phrase. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AQuandary ( talk • contribs) 16:19, 26 December 2015 (UTC)
This and many other sources claim that Tom Wilson used the same musicians for the overdub as were used on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." However, a comparison of musician credits in the Wikipedia articles for these two songs indicate that the only musician who played on both was drummer Bobby Gregg. Bass was played on LARS by Joe Macho, Jr.; on TSOS by Bob Bushnell; guitar on the former by Mike Bloomfield; on the latter by Al Gorgoni. Either the musician credits or the general assertion is wrong. Somebody with accurate knowledge please clarify. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AQuandary ( talk • contribs) 15:20, 27 December 2015 (UTC)
Burton C. Bells side project, Ascension of the Watchers, covered the song on their CD Numinosum —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.91.144.11 ( talk) 12:03, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Vienna Teng covered this song as well. She has never released it officially but apparently covered it on one of her tours. Some fans of her seem to have it linked on her official forums at http://www.viennateng.com, however I have no proper link at the moment. There is also a YouTube video showing a woman dancing while having that cover song in the background, but I'd rather not link it here since I'm not sure about possible copyright issues. -- 178.1.7.187 ( talk) 22:16, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
Somehow this song made it onto Blenders 50 worst songs of all time. I'm not sure if this should be included in the article because it seems like a joke because a few other well received songs are on that list as well like The End by The Doors, but i'm still unsure weather or not to include it in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mjosephs ( talk • contribs) 00:09, 15 January 2010 (UTC)
Point Valid and Catherine Asaro also released a copy of this song on their album/soundtrack Diamond Star. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.101.59.38 ( talk) 06:01, 17 January 2010 (UTC)
VERVE yellow promo dj copy 45 vinyl has John Lennon Paul Mccarthy Beatles Lady Madonna on one side and Paul SIMON Sound of Silence on other side. 45 rpm vinyl record in procession . Tmmassari ( talk) 20:33, 23 September 2010 (UTC) tmmassari
VERVE yellow promo dj copy 45 vinyl has PAul Simon Sound of silence John Lennon Paul Mccarthy Beatles Lady Madonna on other side ````
The article names the Bob Dylan band members who added the electric instruments and drums to the original acoustic recording. But the cited references do not support the information, and footnote 8 specifically names a different drummer and an additional guitarist. Please clarify. ˜˜˜˜ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.167.92.175 ( talk) 07:19, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
Anyone want to help me form a list of all its appearance in media? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.82.187.1 ( talk) 09:26, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
To whoever updates this Wikipedia entry business, A section of The Sound of Silence appeared on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on April 5, 2020 (
/info/en/?search=Zoey%27s_Extraordinary_Playlist) in the episode called "Zoey's Extraordinary Silence." — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
2601:583:300:D20:2D9F:BFE9:3FCF:F2AB (
talk)
08:22, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
This song was always discussed as echoes of a bleak technological wasteland. Here we are living the lyrics. People too busy with their devices to look up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.167.238.81 ( talk) 07:20, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
rocksteady cover by THE GAYLADS 1967 prod. by C. S. DODD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsone_Dodd
I can't link a youtube video but you can easy find it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.147.119.176 ( talk) 17:55, 6 May 2013 (UTC)
"The Awakening" did a cover in 1997 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt72iC7GJrQ) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risen_(The_Awakening_album)) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.241.102.94 ( talk) 03:16, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
Los sonidos del silencio... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.225.70.219 ( talk) 17:08, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
Need to update Disturbed chart rank with its continued climb. 2602:30A:C016:A3A0:6526:6EEE:1B3A:1F03 ( talk) 08:47, 4 July 2016 (UTC)GAfromCA
Quote from the article:
"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.'"
First, the word "internationally" makes no sense in this context. I believe Paul Simon actually explained the meaning of the song. See this Youtube video
Evan Canady ( talk) 03:29, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
Either it's D# minor or D natural minor. Kortoso ( talk) 21:39, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
The article notes that the song is in D♯ minor - however, live, Simon and Garfunkel have sung it keys including D ( [2]) and E ( [3]). Unfortunately I don't think a reliable source has ever remarked on this - but keep an eye out in case one ever does and we can put it in the article! TSP ( talk) 00:36, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
This Wiki page is all about the mixed CBS version Sound of Silence, not the original song, this page need updates badly, the covered version gets all the attention this way! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.80.157.6 ( talk) 10:30, 5 August 2017 (UTC)
The most ubiquitous usage of this song is in memes. Why is there absolutely no mention of this? Taric25 ( talk) 12:43, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
Not a lot out there which is a shame because its definitely a relevant subject to the popular culture section. Would dictionary.com meet the standards in the apparent absence of anything better?
https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/hello-darkness-my-old-friend/ SycamoreWood ( talk) 11:20, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
Errors are visible in the text. - Inowen ( nlfte) 06:40, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
Can maybe someone add soundtrack to this song article? I mean, if there aren't any copyrights. - Undiine55 ( talk) 21:28, 12 January 2019 (UTC)
This article overall has a good structure, but some of the points in the article may need to be cleaned up a bit. It’s already been made clear that the article is weak with citations, but the opening paragraphs and the Other Cover Versions section need some serious work. Not only are they insufficiently cited, but both of them seem to be overstretched. I would suggest moving some of the opening information down to the body of the article and either cleaning up Other Cover Versions or removing it entirely. If these things were fixed I feel that this could be a high quality article. AlexhendersonSCC ( talk) 23:40, 30 March 2019 (UTC)
Way back this page had a comprehensive listing of covers that were removed by an ip edit at some point. Some of the tracks on the list feel much more relevant that what is currently in the section. I'll re-add them to the The Sound of Silence#Other cover versions section unless there are any objections. -- Hairmare ( talk) 00:54, 7 January 2020 (UTC)
References
What do fellow editors make of these news articles and memoir from last summer?
If the story and source are reliable, presumably that info should be included. What more corroboration does this need?
Also, is the published memoir reliable?
El Cóndor Pasa 78.55.235.141 ( talk) 18:14, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
The Sound of Silence article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
![]() | This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||
|
hmmm
Both Simon and Garfunkel were jewish, so saying that The Sound of Silence is stock-full of christian images is not exactly accurate, considering that they were both practicing jews. Saying "religious" imagery may be a better way.
I've wondered this too, and have left a note at Talk:Paul Simon asking about his religious affiliation. There are other songs on "Wednesday Morning 3 AM" that are distinctly christian, much more obviously so than "The Sound of Silence": "You Can Tell The World", "Benedictus", "Go Tell It On The Mountain". Of course, S&G didn't write those songs, but they did choose to sing them. -- Angr/ tɔk tə mi 09:42, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
Most of the things on the internet, especially the interviews with S&G say that the song is about alienation and society's inability to communicate on an emotional level. As a christian, I really do not see any link to the book of Exodus here. Yes, there is a little "religious" language, but it's a poetic thing - it provides a wonderful contrast between the light and dark, the gentle and the harsh. These are the bigger themes in the song.
The "Bowed and prayed to the neon god they made" bit kind of reminded me of the whole golden calf debacle in the old testament, but I didn't really think that's what it was actually supposed to be about. I just figured it represented the "shiny objects" that distract us from one another.-- 71.229.77.97 ( talk) 18:59, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
I traveled to Latin America last year and there they sing a traditional catholic hymn that has the same exact melody as this song. I don't know the hymn's name but clearly Simon and Garfunkel took the melody. -- 24.226.31.126 ( talk) 22:55, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Actually, the hymn's name is Padre Nuestro (Our Father). Its melody is originally from Simon and Garfunkel (being The Sound of Silence), and the Latin Americans adapted it to be a more Catholic song.
Also noted the reference to a "false" god in the article when discussing the "neon god" lyric. The term "false god" is not found in the song and no sources have been provided to suggest this Christian association. I'd suggest this should be changed unless anyone has justification for it? SycamoreWood ( talk) 11:09, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
Is there any reason why this article shouldn't contain the entire lyrics for this song?-- User:Gravinos 02:31, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
This whole section is based on quotes found on a webpage with no references or citations. Can we please find sources for any of these?
It's "Sounds" not "Sound" Zazaban 05:02, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
From the first paragraph: It was written by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
From History section: This song, contrary to all popular belief, was not written by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Like many other Simon and Garfunkel songs, it was written by a man under contract with them who would ask for his time to be witheld.
These two bits of information can't both be right. WHICH ONE is right? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wendingwanderer ( talk • contribs) 00:51, August 26, 2007 (UTC)
This article states in the opening section that the song reached #1 on New Years Day 1966 (Jan 1, 1966). Later in the article, it states that it reached Number One on US charts late 1965, and early 1966, causing them to reunite. It then states that their next album 'Sound of Silence' was hastily recorded Dec 1965 - Jan 1966. How could they do this without being back together which didn't happen until at least 1966? Donnyj ( talk) 22:55, 29 April 2008 (UTC)Donnyj
The article is wrong. I'll fix it. Simon & Garfunkel reunited in December 1965, primarily to record most of the tracks for Sounds Of Silence. The original track of Simon & Garfunkel's vocals and acoustic guitar of "The Sounds of Silence" single was from Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., recorded 10 March 1964. Tom Wilson held an overdub session on 15 June 1965 to record the electric guitar, bass, and drums for the single track. The B-side "We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'" was recorded on 5 April 1965. The single was released in September 1965. Once the single entered the charts in the fall of 1965, Simon returned to the USA from Europe, where he had been performing solo for several months prior. See my page here: [1] Absecon 59 ( talk) 12:20, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
The edition I saw made this statement: "The single was released in September 1965 and immediately began climbing the charts." It appears that the phrase, "immediately began climbing the charts," is pure rhetoric, without any factual backup. In point of fact, the record was released on September 18. It was not listed on the Billboard Hot 100 until November 20, and the ARSA does not list it as being on any radio station's charts prior to October 11. Therefore I am removing this phrase. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AQuandary ( talk • contribs) 16:19, 26 December 2015 (UTC)
This and many other sources claim that Tom Wilson used the same musicians for the overdub as were used on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." However, a comparison of musician credits in the Wikipedia articles for these two songs indicate that the only musician who played on both was drummer Bobby Gregg. Bass was played on LARS by Joe Macho, Jr.; on TSOS by Bob Bushnell; guitar on the former by Mike Bloomfield; on the latter by Al Gorgoni. Either the musician credits or the general assertion is wrong. Somebody with accurate knowledge please clarify. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AQuandary ( talk • contribs) 15:20, 27 December 2015 (UTC)
Burton C. Bells side project, Ascension of the Watchers, covered the song on their CD Numinosum —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.91.144.11 ( talk) 12:03, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Vienna Teng covered this song as well. She has never released it officially but apparently covered it on one of her tours. Some fans of her seem to have it linked on her official forums at http://www.viennateng.com, however I have no proper link at the moment. There is also a YouTube video showing a woman dancing while having that cover song in the background, but I'd rather not link it here since I'm not sure about possible copyright issues. -- 178.1.7.187 ( talk) 22:16, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
Somehow this song made it onto Blenders 50 worst songs of all time. I'm not sure if this should be included in the article because it seems like a joke because a few other well received songs are on that list as well like The End by The Doors, but i'm still unsure weather or not to include it in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mjosephs ( talk • contribs) 00:09, 15 January 2010 (UTC)
Point Valid and Catherine Asaro also released a copy of this song on their album/soundtrack Diamond Star. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.101.59.38 ( talk) 06:01, 17 January 2010 (UTC)
VERVE yellow promo dj copy 45 vinyl has John Lennon Paul Mccarthy Beatles Lady Madonna on one side and Paul SIMON Sound of Silence on other side. 45 rpm vinyl record in procession . Tmmassari ( talk) 20:33, 23 September 2010 (UTC) tmmassari
VERVE yellow promo dj copy 45 vinyl has PAul Simon Sound of silence John Lennon Paul Mccarthy Beatles Lady Madonna on other side ````
The article names the Bob Dylan band members who added the electric instruments and drums to the original acoustic recording. But the cited references do not support the information, and footnote 8 specifically names a different drummer and an additional guitarist. Please clarify. ˜˜˜˜ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.167.92.175 ( talk) 07:19, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
Anyone want to help me form a list of all its appearance in media? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.82.187.1 ( talk) 09:26, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
To whoever updates this Wikipedia entry business, A section of The Sound of Silence appeared on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on April 5, 2020 (
/info/en/?search=Zoey%27s_Extraordinary_Playlist) in the episode called "Zoey's Extraordinary Silence." — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
2601:583:300:D20:2D9F:BFE9:3FCF:F2AB (
talk)
08:22, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
This song was always discussed as echoes of a bleak technological wasteland. Here we are living the lyrics. People too busy with their devices to look up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.167.238.81 ( talk) 07:20, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
rocksteady cover by THE GAYLADS 1967 prod. by C. S. DODD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxsone_Dodd
I can't link a youtube video but you can easy find it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.147.119.176 ( talk) 17:55, 6 May 2013 (UTC)
"The Awakening" did a cover in 1997 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt72iC7GJrQ) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risen_(The_Awakening_album)) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.241.102.94 ( talk) 03:16, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
Los sonidos del silencio... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.225.70.219 ( talk) 17:08, 22 March 2015 (UTC)
Need to update Disturbed chart rank with its continued climb. 2602:30A:C016:A3A0:6526:6EEE:1B3A:1F03 ( talk) 08:47, 4 July 2016 (UTC)GAfromCA
Quote from the article:
"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.'"
First, the word "internationally" makes no sense in this context. I believe Paul Simon actually explained the meaning of the song. See this Youtube video
Evan Canady ( talk) 03:29, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
Either it's D# minor or D natural minor. Kortoso ( talk) 21:39, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
The article notes that the song is in D♯ minor - however, live, Simon and Garfunkel have sung it keys including D ( [2]) and E ( [3]). Unfortunately I don't think a reliable source has ever remarked on this - but keep an eye out in case one ever does and we can put it in the article! TSP ( talk) 00:36, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
This Wiki page is all about the mixed CBS version Sound of Silence, not the original song, this page need updates badly, the covered version gets all the attention this way! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.80.157.6 ( talk) 10:30, 5 August 2017 (UTC)
The most ubiquitous usage of this song is in memes. Why is there absolutely no mention of this? Taric25 ( talk) 12:43, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
Not a lot out there which is a shame because its definitely a relevant subject to the popular culture section. Would dictionary.com meet the standards in the apparent absence of anything better?
https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/hello-darkness-my-old-friend/ SycamoreWood ( talk) 11:20, 16 February 2023 (UTC)
Errors are visible in the text. - Inowen ( nlfte) 06:40, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
Can maybe someone add soundtrack to this song article? I mean, if there aren't any copyrights. - Undiine55 ( talk) 21:28, 12 January 2019 (UTC)
This article overall has a good structure, but some of the points in the article may need to be cleaned up a bit. It’s already been made clear that the article is weak with citations, but the opening paragraphs and the Other Cover Versions section need some serious work. Not only are they insufficiently cited, but both of them seem to be overstretched. I would suggest moving some of the opening information down to the body of the article and either cleaning up Other Cover Versions or removing it entirely. If these things were fixed I feel that this could be a high quality article. AlexhendersonSCC ( talk) 23:40, 30 March 2019 (UTC)
Way back this page had a comprehensive listing of covers that were removed by an ip edit at some point. Some of the tracks on the list feel much more relevant that what is currently in the section. I'll re-add them to the The Sound of Silence#Other cover versions section unless there are any objections. -- Hairmare ( talk) 00:54, 7 January 2020 (UTC)
References
What do fellow editors make of these news articles and memoir from last summer?
If the story and source are reliable, presumably that info should be included. What more corroboration does this need?
Also, is the published memoir reliable?
El Cóndor Pasa 78.55.235.141 ( talk) 18:14, 23 October 2022 (UTC)