Folk Rock Music
The song “The Sounds of Silence” was written by Paul Simon. It was released in 1964 on their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. The album did not do well, and the duo split up. In 1965, the song picked up some airplay and the producer, Tom Wilson, remixed the track with electric instrumentation by musicians who had played on Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” The single with the remix was released in 1965 and rose all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by December of that year. “The Sounds of Silence” was also an international top ten hit on the charts in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, Austria, West Germany, The Netherlands, and Japan. The duo came back together again, and song was also included in Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 album Sounds of Silence.
(The title of the song has had some iterations as well. It was originally “The Sounds of Silence” and then retitled “The Sound of Silence” on compilation albums.) In 2013, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important.”
Simon and Garfunkel were one of the most popular folk groups in the 1960s. They parted in 1970, and both went on to solo careers, which they continue to this day. There have been many reunions since then.
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[…] If you are interested in reading about and listening to another song by Simon and Garfunkel, please click here for “The Sounds of Silence.” […]
[…] If you are interested in reading about and listening to another song by Simon and Garfunkel, please click here for “The Sounds of Silence.” […]
[…] other songs by Simon and Garfunkel: “The Sounds of Silence,” The Boxer,” and “Bridge Over Troubled […]