“The Sound of Silence” was produced by Tom Wilson. This is the song which helped Simon & Garfunkel get signed to Columbia Records in the early 1960s. The above is just one way of attempting to explain a song literally which relies almost entirely on metaphors. For at the end of the day, the ultimate idea this track is intended to lead us to is that a ton of people are challenged with expressing themselves emotionally to their fellow human beings. Rather what it is ultimately dealing with is how the people prefer this manner of living. Or stated differently, they don’t want anyone ‘disturbing the sound of silence’. So even though their ability to effectively communicate with each other is being negatively affected by it, it is obvious that “the sound of silence” is still something which they enjoy.Īs such Simon & Garfunkel view themselves as “prophets”, if you will, who are tasked with enlightening the masses as to what is actually going on. But once again “the sound of silence” is what they prefer. And as such, the vocalists and likeminded people are basically regulated to keeping their prophecies on the downlow. Ultimately as touched upon earlier, this song is not a critique of introversive behavior in and of itself. Does “The Sound of Silence” criticize introversive Behavior? And as we all know, behaving in a such a manner tends to minimize interpersonal communication. This is perhaps made most evident in the final verse, in which the narrator states that “people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made”. As evident in this statement the lyrics of this song are in fact metaphorical, for there is nothing like a common idea of people worshiping a “neon god”.Īs such, the ‘bowing and praying’ referenced is not meant to be taken literally but are rather intended to point to another idea. And that idea could very much be based on individuals being enraptured by a television set. Song warns against dangers of Social IsolationismĪnd in that regard it has been theorized that Simon & Garfunkel are issuing a warning against the threat of mas mid-20 th century social isolationism. In other words, a form of media which may have been deemed as propagating introversive behavior back in those days was the television. And as such, it is feasible that the “neon light” referred to in this song is in fact an allusion to a television set or something of the sort.
0 kommentar(er)
