“The Sound of Silence” is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel to popularity. It was written by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Simon conceived of the song as a way of capturing the emotional trauma felt by many Americans left by the sudden death of a vigorous and visionary leader.
Excerpt from song:
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
