| "The Sound of Silence" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Side-A label of the 1965 U.S. vinyl single | ||||
| Single by Simon & Garfunkel | ||||
| from the album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. and Sounds of Silence | ||||
| B-side | "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" | |||
| Released | October 19, 1964 (original acoustic version) September 12, 1965 (overdubbed electric version) | |||
| Recorded | March 10, 1964 | |||
| Studio | Columbia 7th Ave, New York City | |||
| Genre | Folk rock[1] | |||
| Length | 3:05 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Paul Simon | |||
| Producer(s) | Tom Wilson | |||
| Simon & Garfunkel singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Audio | ||||
| "The Sound of Silence" on YouTube | ||||
| Alternative release | ||||
 Artwork for the original 1966 German vinyl single | ||||
"The Sound of Silence" (originally "The Sounds of Silence") is a song by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon. The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original acoustic version was recorded in March 1964 at Columbia's 7th Avenue Recording Studios in New York City for their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., released that October to disappointing sales. An overdubbed electric remix was released the following year and went to number one on the Billboard singles chart.
In 1965, the song began to attract airplay at radio stations in Boston and throughout Florida. The growing airplay led Tom Wilson, the song's producer, to remix the track, overdubbing electric instruments and drums. This remixed version was released as a single in September 1965. Simon & Garfunkel were not informed of the song's remix until after its release. The remix hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending January 1, 1966, leading the duo to reunite and hastily record their second album, which Columbia titled Sounds of Silence in an attempt to capitalize on the song's success. The remixed single version of the song was included on this follow-up album. Later, it was featured in the 1967 film The Graduate and was included on the film's soundtrack album. It was additionally released on the Mrs. Robinson EP in 1968, along with three other songs from the film: "Mrs. Robinson", "April Come She Will", and "Scarborough Fair/Canticle".
"The Sound of Silence" was a top-ten hit in multiple countries worldwide, among them Australia, Austria, West Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. Generally considered a classic folk rock song, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" in 2012, along with the rest of the Sounds of Silence album. Since its release, the song was included in later compilations, beginning with the 1972 compilation album Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.[2]
- ^ Kruth, John (2015). This Bird Has Flown: The Enduring Beauty of Rubber Soul, Fifty Years On. Milwaukee: Backbeat Books. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-61713-573-6.
- ^ Mastropolo, Frank (March 10, 2015). "51 Years Ago: Simon & Garfunkel Record Their First Classic, 'The Sounds of Silence'". Ultimate Classic Rock.