Boomer Anthems: The Sound of Silence

"The Sound of Silence" originally was released to mockery, obscurity, and failure.

The song was written by Paul Simon over a period of several months in 1963 and 1964. A studio audition led to the duo signing a record deal with Columbia Records, and the song was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia Studios in New York City for inclusion on their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.

Released in 1964 the album bombed and S & G broke up.... for the first time. Simon went to England and Garfunkel back to college. Following a burst of airplay at stations around colleges the next spring, the producer, Tom Wilson, remixed the song without S&G’s knowledge and released it as a single in September, 1965. By January the song was number one and Simon and Garfunkel quickly reformed ... for the first time... to capitalize on the song’s success.

Many people have believed that the song grew out of some prophetic insights into the events of the time, but it actually arose from deep inside your typical teenage boy’s angst.

Simon said: ”I wrote The Sound of Silence when I was 21 years old,” with Simon also explaining that the song was written in his bathroom, where he turned off the lights to better concentrate. "The main thing about playing the guitar, though, was that I was able to sit by myself and play and dream. And I was always happy doing that. I used to go off in the bathroom, because the bathroom had tiles, so it was a slight echo chamber. I'd turn on the faucet so that water would run (I like that sound, it's very soothing to me) and I'd play. In the dark. 'Hello darkness, my old friend / I've come to talk with you again’.”

The rest is silence.

Posted by gerardvanderleun at October 4, 2016 8:16 AM