From a tribute to JFK after his assassination to a song simply written in a dark bathroom, there have been many interpretations (guesses) as to the meaning of Simon and Garfunkel’s classic “Sound of Silence” over the decades. This past summer the real inspiration appears to have been revealed.

In his memoir, “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness into an Extraordinary Vision for Life,” Garfunkel’s best friend Sanford “Sandy” Greenberg explained how he suddenly lost his sight in college and how he overcame the tragedy and subsequently went on to great success in life due in large part to the support of his pal, Garfunkel.

Art – who in a show of empathy called himself “Darkness” – would talk about the situation with his musical partner, Paul Simon, who went on to write the song.

The initial “The Sounds of Silence” (the name was later shortened) was written in 1963-64 and appeared on the duo’s first album, which flopped so profoundly as to cause the pair to break up.

Fortunately, they reformed and re-recorded SOS, which became a No. 1 hit in 1966, appeared in the film “The Graduate” the following year, and has gone on to become one of S&G’s most beloved songs and routinely rated one of the best of all time in popular music polls.

This rendition comes from a performance at Madison Square Gardens in 2009, the guys’ sublime harmony still in full spine-tingling effect and introduced by a spellbinding, vaguely Spanish, guitar intro by Simon.

And now knowing “the rest of the story,” it seems more poignant than ever.

(Thanks to TravelBrands’ Elvi Cal for this suggestion).

Lyrics

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

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

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 share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

“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

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 subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence.