I always thought of the neon god as media/TV. Media is becoming a sort of god, distracting us from communicating on a deeper level and making us superficial. Very relevant in today's social media age

The Sound of Silence is one of the greatest songs ever written.

My theory before watching: the song is a prediction of a world where technology has replaced human Interaction. In this world people don't speak to each other, they don't sing they don't Interact in anyway except through technology. It makes this world out to be a negative place. People worshipping a "neon god they made". A people that have lost sight of what it means to be human. In some ways I think Simon meant it as a warning not to lose touch, in a world of booming science, with what is important and what makes us human.

Putting the meme aside, this song is really sad and really beautiful. And i mean the melody on it is pretty beautiful as well

This song means different things to different people at different times of their lives.

seem fitting to explain mad world next

Even if you don't know what it means... You know The Sounds of Silence is deep!

*They are incredibly brilliant artists;* it's unbelievable to think that they predicted the world we live in today. A world that is gradually losing true human interaction. A world that has become dependent on technology aka *"The Neon God"...*

I heard this song many times growing up but I never knew the lyrics except the main part. I guess that proves the song's point. I heard but didn't listen.

I explained this to my professor back in college about 15 yrs ago, as a Prophetic insight of writer of the future.. Not gonna go word for word of the lyric, but sound of silence as I explained is exactly our current situation now.. People nowadays could actually make a noise without actually making any sounds thru social media, by then I refer to it as texting.." People hearing without listening" I pointed it out that people believe into something without actually knowing the truth and that refers to lots of fake news nowadays which we easily believe in, simply becoz tha'ts what we heard without actually trying to understand it and be subjective to the topic.. Those were just some of points I laid back in the days.. Everyone can actually put a meaning to it, just depend on how you percieve it.. It's very meaningful song.. Thank you for uploading this video, it brings me back in time where I first empressed my wife.. :)

I think Disturbed's version was a reawakening of this thought, and the delivery and way he chose to sing it meant to me that people are STILL not connected or communicating well.

Now they just sit in silence

The neon lights represents materialism. The neon signs for businesses

"The Neon Gods they made" Smartphones. "People talking without speaking" Texting.

I'm a die hard brutal death metal fan who loves growths and heavy guttural vocals. These type of vocals take alot of breath control and when I listened to the sound of silence I was so impressed with the control of there voice and I'm so impressed. Truly a beautiful song.

The way this song has increased in meaning over the years. I now don’t only think it is about people losing touch with genuine connection in the advent of technological advances. Now that I’m older I keep thinking of how we choose to be blissfully ignorant to others suffering. How we can walk past someone dying in the street, ignore them and look down into our phones because it is easier and more comfortable. The line “People writing songs that voices never share” is probably the most profound line in this song for me. This numbness the song describes silences the many stories and “songs” of people’s lives and experiences that will never be heard by anyone. Who cares what life a homeless person lived to have them be where they ended up? We dont ask ourselves these questions but just keep walking by, acting like we saw nothing.

This song truthfully explains my depression...😩 "Hello darkness my old friend"😔

Friend : This song is old Me: So is your mom but you listen to her

in my opinion - which is a drunk opinion right now - the song is speaking of the loss of individualism or expression, and the human race becoming an interconnected hive like embodiment through technology made possible by some sort of interface which has the effect of.... silence. great song. one of my favorites. Paul Simon is a genius. I don't use the "G" word lightly.

I’d like to think of the neon God mentioned in the song as technology and mobile phones. because these things are very powerful right now and they’re almost godly like. “And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made” we are glued to our phones and very responsive to them almost worshiping them. It’s so crazy that a 20-year-old could predict something like that like in the 60s

The Sound of Silence was the Graffiti on the subway walls against the Vietnam War. Protesters were using graffiti to express their anger. Graffiti is read, not spoken - hence silence. It has nothing to do with out lack of communicating our real feelings, its about reading about what is really going on in the streets on protest signs and graffiti.

I only know what I felt by this song and how important it was to me during a sad time in my life! I will keep it at that and always love the righteous brothers no matter what! I miss that era so much because of the amazing music!

I interpret this song differently. To me, this song reflects the journey of someone who just pleased away. His spirit is slowly moving on. Restless dreams, I walked alone narrow streets of cobblestone… walking towards the neon light and later the neon god… then he sees 10,000 people maybe more… spirits… they talk without talking, they hear without listening,… and none of the spirits dare disturb the sound of silence. And the words of the prophets written in the walls-“Jesus loves you”, “in God we trust”, “Rest In Peace”…

Thank you for taking the time to interpret this beautiful song. We need to listen to this song now a days even more since no one is listening to each other and so divided.

What i understand about this song is athiesm. Like the line "and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence" it means religion that was introduced to him and untill now it's still in his mind but it is in silence because he dont belive a supreme being exists. Also the line "And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made" obviously it means god that people created.

“Disturbed” simply made it “powerful”.

I had 2 thoughts about this song. 1. Its about technology and how we have to rely on it or my favorite. 2. This song was made in the cold war so he was talking about the start of nuclear war and how the earth will be cleansed in fire since it talks about prophets writings in the subway halls. When the bomb first blows he sees all the people all staring speaking with their eyes as it will be their last time seeing each other as they bow to the neon god that they made. Meaning the bomb that unleashes the sun, made by man

“Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation” Rumi...🙏❤👋

i love to compare the lyrics of this song to Plato’s Cave Allegory. (If you don’t know what it is, it’s a super quick google:). The narrator is basically the “philosopher” that escaped the cave and sees all the truth in their true forms, not just shadows. And then the people in this song who aren’t connecting are those of the allegory who stay in the cave, forever looking at the shadows cast upon the wall. the neon god is their ignorance, their shadows. this song is so brilliant and beautiful.

Im here bc my aunt just died and this was her choice of song she wanted played. I wanna know more.

This song is still relevant because we have not learned the message as a human community. There are people who understood and changed, others who have yet to learn. A pity that there are also people who want to confuse us and keep us ignorant of the truth. There is nothing worse than mental rigidity, not seeing the world as it really is.

This song keeps coming to me.. so I wanted to see how others were seeing n interpreting it, the meaning! Ive come to understand darkness is our friend, as clarity to choose the Light! ..meditating connects us to all that we r! The talking without speaking, hearing without listening, I find is the telepathic communication we expand to as we reach higher vibrations. As we awaken n recieve n connect to our God given powers, we can communicate beyond the 3D. I am still interpreting the other verses, n I believe they had more to do with Atlantis n the Future that is coming! I find it interesting n fascinating that Simon saw these visions n brought the song to us back in the 60s! Awesome! 🎶🎶 Love n Light 🧚💜 Namaste 💞🙌

I think Mother Meera explains better what Silence is. She is herself an epitome of silence. Satya Saibaba says that when one becomes totally silent one can hear the steps of God.

*sound not “sounds” 😂

i did have a person i could communicate fully with, sadly, we will never talk to eachother again, they are not dead, but we lost all way of contacting eachother, i miss him everyday

Very interesting channel and song analysis, Professor. I’m glad that I came across your channel.

I always thought this song was about depression - that never really goes away that comes in waves when unexpected. Especially in the opening lyrics. Oh well, that’s how I interpreted it since my depression is an old friend

coming from a theology standpoint i can see more connection between the bible and this song than just the words of idol worshiping (neon gods they made) and prophets etc. the likening of a warning from God in the old testament, the words and the feeling you get from reading scriptures that are meant as a warning, in multiple verses from isaiah and different prophets even Jesus talks about this "silence" where people are hearing but never listening. as they ignore what he tries to teach the people to help us, but we ignore it because its more pleasant living the other lifestyle. really the message of silence represented there, is also so many places in the bible in different verses. its too complicated to explain all of it because its so interconnected with each other, and gathers a view of the subject of humans ignoring God for various reasons. as a bilingual with english as a secondary its difficult to hear out all the meaning of a song the first time. but when it came to this song i just felt that "wow" that i got from reading scriptures. and i want you to know that even though the scriptures are written by a different person, the message even as it is written different feels like is sent from the same person, and i got that feeling from this song. its not just me, but many christians also view the text in this way. it really comes to show how songs can often be interpreted in so many ways. and i do respect the other views, just wanted to point out what was really apparent for me.

I looove The sounds of silence! Thanks for the video, great as always!

So what I heard, Paul was walking behind Art, who’s been known to be moody, it started out as him feeling smalll, ignored an walking behind him, and then the mood grabbed him, lyrics exploded🎉and what a great song. I’m 59, and have seen this song embrace so many humans. Peace to all

Eh. I feel this is a bit light for an explanation. There's so many verses you just went by.

The song is a call for free speech. Its is more applicable today than ever. The sound of silence is the social and authoritarian powers that exist and stop us expressing our throughs. The sound of Silence is thought control. People would not sing songs because it would disturb the sound of silence ( that mean the gulags for you). "Fools say I you do not know, Silence like a cancer grows" is a call to push back against this before it becomes all destroying. Neon Gods are false gods that every ideology creates (religious & atheist a like, once anyone talks of a utopia you can be sure they have created a false god). The song also talks to the political class ignoring the common people, as stated the words of the prophets are written on sub way walls - the words of the common man (all to often ignored by those so call smart people who would prefer to look down their noses at the common people rather than to listen to them. ) truly great lyrics.

That song talks about the end of the live, and the meeting with the death people in other place.

I was today years old when I found out this song was written in 1964.. It's viral in tik tok and that's how I hear it. I though it was all about the technology that we are a "communicating" with each other but we aren't.

Yes it was about the 60s, but it describes our world today. Today we are separated by selective media. It magnifies our differences while silencing the things we have in common. Our humanity is lost in the noise.

The world is a play of characters with conditioned thoughts. If by chance you dont think so, just reflect on how differently the world could have been if different decisions were made. Silence allows us to sit in the observer seat. Wisdom falls on deaf ears to those who do not think themselves as equils and cannot bring peace to the world. They do not tap into what is inherently theirs. They seek idols of greater value and fill their minds with the chatter of it all. But the sages know that it is in our nature to be all that we can be. We stand in our own way of happiness because we dont realize that peace is what we strive for.

Always thought the song was talking about the silent majority! Guess it could still be

I thing the lyrics are about our focus on commercialism and technology over human needs and communication.

This song was so big it was played for years on popular radio. Also it was the electric version that was the hit thanks to Bob Dylan's producer overdubbing electric guitars onto the recording.

The one and only clear and accurate explanation for this song is a song about a vision but he had while he was sleeping it still remained means he couldn't forget about it and when it starts out with hello darkness my old friend he's telling you the grid is down there's no lights on anywhere which is a future prophesied the event called the electromagnetic pulse EMP attack that is going to occur and he says hello darkness my old friend I've come to speak with you again because,( the word because is always the answer to the question why ) OF the darkness and it's because of the vision that he had where he was standing under the Halo of a Street Lamp when his eyes were stabbed by the flash of the neon light which I understand clearly that a nuclear bomb emets such an incredibly brilliant bright light that people who have been involved in nuclear bomb testing have been commanded to tightly closed her eyes and cover their eyes with their forearm and then they describe being able to see the bones in their arms through their tightly-closed eyes when the Flash of the nuclear bomb detonating goes off and that's why it happened in the middle of the night and it touched the sound of silence there will be no radio no television no cell phone no Internet no power grid the nuclear bomb has sent out the electromagnetic pulse that has destroyed all sensitive computer fuel fuel injected Vehicles will not operate highways will be desolate. An EMP attack is coming. he tells you to listen but my words like silent raindrops are falling means nobody hears me. this people are hearing but not listening. he said you fools, you do not know, silence like a cancer will grow. the grid will be down for an extended time. you better listen because he's prophesying a soon-to-come future event for sure.

I feel that this song was a song about right now 2021. But my feelings of what this song is about was Pentatonix sang it. And my feelings of the song is that it's about how we don't speak on our phones anymore.and utilize the texting. The neon God is our Devices we are stuck to.

it fetches death vibes very chilling but very beautiful song

thanks for the help with my assignment. I really appreciate it.

The Neon God does make sense if your folk singer comes not from the green hills in the country, but from New York City. I think that it's an interesting perspective, being an 'urban folk singer'. So, his 'common places' weren't cabins or the little church in the dale, or the fields, but the subways and tenements.

The images fit the lyrics, different poeple coming together to "save" society in the end, the ark, cool.

Looking at the world today it actually seems quite prophetic. Our world today has us with our heads facing our phones, not communicating with each other face to face.

It is about depression and loneliness.

He said in an interview he was in Dallas that fateful day n had nightmares n the flash of light was the bullet n 10000 ppl standing there stunned... Talking without speaking...

Paul has stated that “hello darkness.... u again” is the only lyric with tangible meaning to him. He’s referencing when he was a little boy and would go in the bathroom, turn off the lights and sing. He liked the acoustics in the bathroom also

To me it speaks to my ptsd how I feel someday

Loved it!

Never get tired of hearing it

When you referred to a Byrds cover, I think you may have been thinking about the reissue of this song with an overlay of drums and electric guitar that was meant to sound like The Byrds. It was that version of this song that became a hit for S&G.

Why am I always so early? I mean, I'm not complaining.

I always thought for many years, this song was about a homeless person, no one to communicate with, just the sound of silence ,walked streets of cobble stones alone in the cold & damp, but apparently i was wrong

Can’t handle the music in the background!!!

This helped me so much in my presentation for school

I just heard it is about a blind man he knew who he named darkness.

The first song I learned to play on the 🎹💓

Simon and Garfunkel, being Jewish, may have alluded to meditation and connecting with God. In the quiet and dark whom do you talk to? Mystics have said God speaks to them during their quiet sessions. Then there is the prophets references. The Neon god might be how we create religions to reflect us. We may think the song is completely secular, but therein lies hidden meaning. Led Zeppelins Stairway to heaven has some pagan imagery as the lead guitarist was a practicing pagan / mage. So again they made references . Kind of cool.

This is amazing

And now think about the application of technology, cell phones in particular to the words of this song. A light blinding his face? What happens if you turn a cell phone screen on in the dark? It blinds you to your surroundings. Even if it's not dark, ppl are zeroed in on it, so it's still blinding. "People talking with speaking. People listening without hearing." Text communication? Praying to the neon God they made? People bowing their heads to look into their hands at their phone sort of resembles praying. The neon god tells them of prophecy of what's to come? News feeds on social media apps? I think the song was about what was going on at the time. But could it have also been a prediction or warning of the future, our present and what's to come? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Tku. Really enjoyed ur explanation.

Its not over dramatic for a 21 year old when they've shared the vision of the end. Dont matter what age you are.

I do think this explanation is overly simplistic. Paul Simon did not condd Sd user himself to be a spiritual person, but Bridge Over Troubled Water is very spiritual. There is a video that focuses entirely on the first line: Hello darkness my old friend, one line that related to Garfunkel’s best friend, who became blind and thought his life was over. The friend referred to himself as “Darkness,” and Art would call him and say, “Hello Darkness.” His friend found great support from Art and became a successful person. An Art May have a conscious intention, not knowing that a song would Reach billions of people, in different ways. Some songs are magic. The words, melody, vocals and production transcend the individual parts. Here we are more than 50 years later, and interest in the song is still growing. I found the “ Darkness” video provided food for thought worth considering. There can be conscious, subconscious, and super conscious influences that contribute to the Whole.

The first shall be depressing

Omitted from this is an important fact, especially connected with that 4th verse and the Pop Professor's comment. No one WAS listening; the song went nowhere. Art went back to school, and Paul moved to England. It might have been the end of this duo. But something happened that changed everything.

It just sounds like he’s talking about being addicted to tvs

Simon: I"ve come to visit once again because a vision, softly creeping, planted its seed while I was sleeping and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains in the sound of silence. Darkness: You know, you can just say you had a bad dream.

I always thought the sound of silence meant death

Thx awesome job! Im communicating!

Im taking intro to Mass Communication and this song which has been one of my all time favorites has lyrics with so many parallel to what I'm learning in that class. Communication without communicating on a personal level.

The first time I heard this was on mushrooms. When the clock struck 11:11 , time stopped.

i am indigo, but 50%.. so my connection unto the song or lyric or whatever is feels so weird to me.. i've listen to tne song sounds of silence for 1 week, and theres voice in my head and on my ears, whispering weird things.. but i just ignore it,. so after listening to the song, i feel dark and sorrow.. hmm, so sad.. my friend die,. thats what the whisper tell me,. its hard to explain but, this song is very haunting..

YESS FINALLY SIMON AND GARFUNKEL

BTW RE: Hello Darkness my old friend . Paul Simon himself said that "darkness" was depression. Not the mental health condition but simply sadness at what he was expressing about feeling ignored by the world. And because you didn't understand THAT you used one of the most beautiful openings in pop music to make lame pathetic jokes. ....you really are some piece of work

The best re-make of the song is the version by disturbed… love it or hate it, it’s what most modern remakes have been based on.

Everytime i hear this i think of him having visions and singing about the internet decades before it was even imagined.. *to point out...he maybe has no fking clue on how this vision could have been a vision for today*

Heard it first from Pentatonix it was cool due to its too much modernization of the rhythm of the song.But it was very emotional empty that's why i had to search for more explanation due to its very artistic lyrics.Thx coach for the explanations

You are the best!

To me The sound of silence sounds like more of a song about impending doom and self-destruction

YES I love music from the 60s please do more music from this time period!

I remember that a teacher of mine said he theorised the song represents the terror of the bystander effect: where a group of people see something happen,but everyone expects someone else to do something about it. I remember he was talking about a real life murder of a woman named kitty genovise back in the 1960s.. neighbors heard and saw her getting stabbed to death in an alleyway,but everyone else saw eachother and assumed someone else was going to call 911 but no one did .. They didn't want to disturb the sound of silence

Just because Simon may not have realized the depth of the lyric, at the time he wrote it, does not mean it did not come from his subconscious. He said he dreamt much of the inspiration for the song. At the time they were having trouble breaking through the record industry garbage (subconscious?) and Disturbed's recent take seems to be directed at the music industry itself. How the labels silence artists, so the industry can sell more records without offending too many. Those labels ignore the writing on the walls of the true prophets by only looking at sales profits. But true, the angst of that era was also about the lack of real listening. Much like the Cranberries 'Zombie' looked at violence causing silence. The truth can be buried. [For a 'professor' you need to notice that the title is Sound, not sounds!]

Way back in the 1980s I wrote a paper about this song for a college religion class and made the highest grade in the class. We kinda agree but not quite.

The neon god they made is actually the technology that was invented by people at the time. (city signs, tvs, whatever you could imagine in the 1960s).

3:00 mans do be sounding like the lady from Google translate when you press the tts button after entering the lyrics to your favorite song

Ty for explaining

i remember my music teacher telling us about the meaning of this song last school year

Disturbed's cover is outta this world