Greetings, friends!
I generally try to avoid posting about the world around me. I like to keep this platform as one for escaping the world into creativity and hopefully uplifting those who read my words simply by having a good attitude and good words, especially now.
But today, I wanted to talk about something directly to do with this world.
The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel has been a song that I loved since I first heard it, and I could never quite explain why, except for the fact that it is what I believe to be a prime example of an artist portraying what is in their head perfectly.
But now, in this hectic year, I've found the song proving itself even more relevant, as well as sad.
So here I am to pull apart this song, and show you the meaning that I've found in it, verse by verse.
Verse One
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
This first verse gives the setting.
Humanity seems to be attracted to darkness, or maybe darkness is attracted to humanity (maybe even both). And this year so far has been very dark.
And that vision is the vision of what we couldn't see, and of what we can see. While these months of solitude were dragging by, months of loneliness, months of fear, months of listening to the government and to the CDC without consideration, while we were sleeping, others began to speak.
Those people are the doctors and scientists and even every day citizens who are speaking truth, but who are hidden away, being silenced.
And so, the "sounds of silence" is the absence of truth.
Verse Two
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
We were all alone in the quarantine, trying to find our own way through it amidst debates, hate, contradictions, logic, a lack of resources, confusion, frustration, fear, and so on.
And when we 'turn our collars' to this, when we're done and ready to just give in, there's that flash of light, that quick reveal, the glimmer of hope, that leak that let the truth slip out.
And that light broke the sound of silence, that light of hope and truth, but not enough for everyone to see. Just enough for those who were looking. But then, it was taken down again, removed because it "violated" some community standard, or because it offended someone.
So no, it didn't break the sound of silence, it just brushed its surface, it just touched it.
Verse Three
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
That flash of light opened some eyes, and to those who listened to the truth and hope that just barely got out enough to assure them and to quiet fears, they began to see things as they were.
They saw people, thousands of people, who talked without speaking, conveying their thoughts in a double-sided post, in a passive aggressive statement, not speaking outright directly.
And they heard each other without listening, they let their words come out, maybe even uninterrupted, but they didn't listen to what they had to say, they just let it play until it was their turn.
People writing songs, people writing posts, people saying truth, people challenging the norm, but their songs were never shared. No one would repeat them, no one would echo them, no one would spread them, because they didn't dear disturb the sound of silence. They didn't dare disturb the absence of truth.
Because really, truth is a scary thing.
Verse Four
"Fools," said I, "you do not know,
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
Within the sound of silence
Those who listened, those who saw that hope and truth before it was gone, grew angry. They called those who wouldn't listen 'fools' and 'sheeple', their frustration escaping as they reminded the others of how the absence of truth grows tyranny, control, compliance, lies, and fear.
Then they shift into nearly pleading with them, begging that they would hear, no listen, to their words that they may explain their stance, that they may give their evidence, and assure them of the truth that is so hopeful, that they would work together to continue to uncover truth.
But their words fell on deaf ears, just more words in the well of hidden truth.
Just more words hidden in the sound of silence.
Verse Five
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said "the words of the prophets
Are written on the subways walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence.
People have begun praising select faces, claiming only their words are the truth and the only truth despite given evidence. They've made them and their stances into an idol, nearly.
And warnings are all around, so many red flags have been raised regarding those select individuals as well as others and the arguments they raised, so much has been proven wrong.
And the words of truth and of what is to come and of what is here now, they're all said not by great individuals, but by the people who are being kept silent, the nobodies.
But their words are no more than a whisper now, for if they were any louder, they may very well be silenced permanently.
So their words are whispered in the sound of silence.
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I'm not sure of what I hope you take away from my posts this time around. I suppose just these two things: 1.) The Sound of Silence is a brilliant song, and 2.) Listen, don't just hear.
I do hope you enjoyed this post and my take on this wonderful song.
Until we meet again, I remain,
~ 𝓔𝓭𝓷𝓪 𝓟𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓷
P.S. Check out the song The Sound of Silence and tell me what your take on it is, I'd love to hear it.
