52 Songs, Week 13: "Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel

It's true, I work with a lot of youth, and that helps keep me young.  Hopefully not too young or immature, but young.  Sometimes, however, they are old, or wise, or different than you think.

Working with youth can be like herding cats... they're always seeing something else they want to do, and going off in new directions.  It's kind of controlled chaos, and you have to chose at what level you want to ignore it.  Then there are the folks you can't ignore... and his name is Calvin.  Red-headed, no less.  What are you gonna do?

But there is quite a bit of depth to Calvin if you listen carefully.  This weekend, he started singing the Sound of Silence - hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again  - and shucks, I started singing along.  Why not?  It's a fabulous song by a fabulous duo. 

You can be in the middle of a crowd, or a city, and be completely, utterly, alone. 

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to 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 street lamp
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 share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that 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 made
And the sign flashed out 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