When we left Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, they had split up after the failure of their debut folk album, 1964’s Wednesday Morning, 3AM, with Simon moving to London to perform in small venues and Garfunkel pursuing a Masters degree in New York City.
During the summer of ’65, one track off of that debut album showed signs of life on college radio. ‘The Sound of Silence,’ a gentle tune with grand lyrics, received a lot of airplay in Gainesville, Florida, and other college towns. Producer Tom Wilson, who had worked on Wednesday Morning, 3AM, sensed an opportunity.
Wilson was the producer on Bob Dylan’s early albums as well as the seminal single ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ Following the recording of that song, he had Dylan’s backing band lay down instrumentation to accompany the acoustic version of ‘The Sound of Silence,’ turning a folk ballad into folk rock. Because Simon and Garfunkel had split up, Wilson was able to create the track without their knowledge or permission.
The third version of ‘The Sound of Silence’ (Simon had recorded a solo version for The Paul Simon Songbook as well) was released in September, 1965, and became the duo’s first hit. By the end of the year it reached number one on the charts.
Simon and Garfunkel seized the moment and quickly reunited, recording their second album, Sounds of Silence, in December and rushing its release in January, 1966, to capitalize on the success of the single.
And that’s how an enterprising producer and Bob Dylan’s backing band resurrected a career that was almost over before it started.
I’ve come with 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 streetlamp
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 shared
And no one dared
To stir the sound of silence
Fool, said I, you do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words and I might teach you
Take my arms then 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’d made
And the sign flashed 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 sounds of silence
Meet Me In Montauk 
Wow, this is a truly fascinating story. So the song we all know as the hit was recorded without Simon’s involvement or permission? Did they record it a fourth time with instrumentation on the second album, or was it the same track from before that had become the hit? Fascinating.
This is an amazing story; and all this going on while I was getting ready to be married 🙂 I just love this song.
Dana: It was the same track that made it onto the album… the original folk recording with added instrumentation by Dylan’s band.
Fascinating. That’s such an interesting intersection of musical greats. Wonder what, if any, relationship they have had over the years. In any incarnation, this song is one of my favorites.
They toured together in the 90s, but I read an article that says there’s been some tension between them in recent years.