Understanding The Sound Of Silence

Hello, darkness, my old friend... The Sound of Silence is one of the most well-known songs in the history of popular music, and deservedly so. It complements its beautifully cryptic lyrics with a harmony that's deceptively intricate, and the vocal harmonies are one of the most haunting things I've ever heard. It may seem like a simple song, but under the hood it's anything but. There's a reason it's stuck around as long as it has.

SOURCES:

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Susan Jones
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And thanks as well to Henry Reich, Eugene Bulkin, Logan Jones, Abram Thiessen, Anna Work, Oliver, Jc Bq, Adam Neely, Dialup Salesman, nico, Justin Donnell, Michael Fieseler, Rick Lees, Ben LaRose, rhandhom1, Harold Gonzales, Marc Himmelberger, Chris Borland, StarsServant, Dave Mayer, Thomás, jason black, Davis Sprague, SD, Justin Bronstein, Justin Aungst, David Roulston, Nick Olman, Dutreuilh Olivier, Joey Strandquist, Daniel Gilchrist, billy roberts, Elliot Burke, Alex Atanasyan, Amlor, Paul Quine, Anamol Pundle, Greg Borenstein, Tim S., David Tocknell, Elias Simon, Jerry D. Brown, CodenaCrow, Nikolay Semyonov, blalo'u, Lauren Steely, Fabian, Josiah R. Hazel, Ohad Lutzky, Bate Goiko, Jon White, Eivind Vatshaug, Revolution Harmony, Arnas, Paul Apicella, Sarah Spath, Skylar J Eckdahl, Kristian Bredenbeck, Kurtis Commanda, James A. Thornton, Jacob Friend, Benjamin Cooper, Kevin, Joe Galetti, John Bejarano, David Barker, Gerhard Blab, drunkwookiee64, Aa Markus, Caroline Simpson, Brian Dinger, Pawel Sit, Michael Alan Dorman, Adam Wurstmann, Dave Wray, Kelsey Freese, Shadow Kat, Adam Kent, Lee Rennie, Richard T. Anderson, Thomas Schryver, Angela Flierman, Matthis Knopf, Peter Wells, Kevin Hellon, Zion Suppasan, Dan Lizotte, Nathan Petchell, Blake Boyd, alex, Calvin Blitman, Jan Macek, Magnus Guldbrandsen, Trevor, Michael McCormick, Stefan Strohmaier, Lilith Dawn, David Baker, Jonathan Beck, Dmitry Jemerov, Jason Foster, Ian Seymour, Charles Gaskell, Brett Haines, christian madsen, Luke Rihn, Rob Holton, Devon Wilhelmy, Ben Horwood, Seth Keller, Mark Feaver, Tyler Lukasiewicz, Kevin Johnson, Brian McCue, Stephan Broek, Richard Walker, Wú QióngYuǎn, Nervilis, Marcøs, Brandon Lanning, Ryan Nicholls, ml cohen, Sylvain Chevalier, Yuriy Honcharuk, Darzzr, Roger Grosse, David Hardin, Rodrigo Roman, Francois LaPlante, Jeremy Zolner, Matthew Fox, Paper Coelacanth, Britt Ratliff, Patrick James Morley, Koen Hoogendoorn, Leon Saleh, Tae Wook Kim, Eddie O'Rourke, Ryan, Timothy Field, Jon Bauman, Drew Mazurek, Jacob Luedecke, Vincent Sanders, John July, Antônio Guilherme Ferreira Viggiano, Victor L., Tommaso Ghidetti, Volker Wegert, Linus Abrahamson, Paul Koester, Danny, Matthew Kallend, Patrick Callier, JH, Joshua Gleitze, Ben Zotto, Elliot Jay O'Neill, George Gleeson, David Christensen, Elliot Winkler, Payden Nissen, Tom Evans, Fred Phillips, Emilio Assteves, Moises Vieira Nunes, Alex Keeny, Jeffery Aaron Lowery, Alexey Fedotov, Nicholas Lim, Patrick Pyne, Charles Hill, Harry Hume, Greg von Teig, and Joshua La Macchia! Your support helps make 12tone even better!

Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold and Jade Tan-Holmes for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!

[mememem]

Protip: Watching this video while it's muted does not actually help you understand the sound of silence

[aaronoconnor]

Me: completely lacking any musical theory knowledge
Also me: hmmm yes I do understand this song on a deeper level indeed

[tylerwelty]

"I don't know, fight me in the comments" best remark for anyone on social media

[shinydino]

Wow, I always thought the song was musically simple and just lyrically brilliant. I always thought of Sound of Silence as a beautiful poem with a simple but haunting melody/accompaniment. Thanks for shedding some light on how the musical structure plays a role in the overall effect. I still do think that a big part of the song’s power comes from Paul Simon’s lyrics, but I guess that goes without saying.

[solventman]

This video suffers from too low elephant concentration per square meter

[SignalsMusicStudio]

Great analysis of one of my favorite recordings! Simon's part is just barely in my weak range as a mediocre singer but it's one of the most satisfying musical things I can perform if I'm with a decent singer. I'm surprised you said you get flack for mentioning relative modulations. They are, in my opinion, a critical element to modern music. I teach "Boys Of Summer" by Don Henley to my students to demonstrate relative modulations from minor to major for verses + choruses, but I consider the bridge to be a brief modulation into relative Lydian-would you agree?

[JanStrojil]

Seeing 12tone and Sound of Silence, I clicked "like" immediately, there is no way this video could be anything but excellent. Thank you, sir.

[gabrielbrennan]

“And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made” is one of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard. It’s *very* Isaiah 44:10-20 and that’s why I love it.

[johnnash]

2:30 Is this a bridge over troubled water you're drawing?

[AmandaKaymusic]

Thanks 12tone. We were taught this song in 3rd grade (around 8yrs old) at school by a very musical teacher who I hadn't thought about for a long time. It was a song from my Mum's album collection too and I have always related to the lyrics and stirring gentle harmonies of the vocals. I appreciate learning more about the history of the production, humorous cartoon references and, as always, your in-depth way of looking at the music.

[sebastianzaczek]

**plop plop plop plop tick**

"Hey, welcome to 12tone! I..."

Well i don't know what would come next but "...I think that my wifi's gone."

**breathes agressively because I can't watch the 12tone video**

[randalclarke]

Thank you so much for mentioning Tom Wilson by name! A truly groundbreaking Producer who is slowly being forgotten about through time, yet deserves so many accolades. Thank you 😊

[ARTiculations]

Yay glad to see this video up! I've been listening to the original acoustic version (which I also never heard before) so much ever since you mentioned it. I've always loved the haunting nature of the song and this version just emphasizes that even more.

[ianwynne]

Hello 12tone: You never cease to amaze me with the breadth of your musical tastes. Please keep up the good work.

[axipher]

I came here after searching for more versions of Sound of Silence, I have no music backgorund, but still enjoyed your explanation all around, have a like and a comment :D

[Mirro]

Hey, i know you might not read this, but thanks for this video. About a year ago I stumbled upon it when I was trying to arrange that song for me nad brother to sing for my mom's birthday and it really helped me understand a few things I had to do and it turned out great so... for what's that worth; Thanks a lot!

[sogidochnet]

Hello, since quite a time I'm improvisizng on the piano and I desperatly searched for something, I didnt' even have a name for; a few days ago I found your channel and finally I found what I was looking for and much more, thank you so much. It's very usefull, that you are playing the chords while explaining, and I like your drawings too.  Greetings & many thanks...

[mayonnaisical]

I spy with my little eye, an inferior siege engine

[eaglescout]

Such an amazing piece of music. Probably one of the best examples of vocal harmony being used in popular music.

[musicalintentions]

Listening to you describe this music was a joy because your enthusiasm is so apparent. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜