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The Sounds of Silence (3:03)

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The Sounds of Silence is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel to popularity. It was written on February 19, 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Simon conceived of the song as a way of capturing the emotional trauma felt by many Americans.

The song features Simon on acoustic guitar and both Simon and Garfunkel singing. It was originally recorded as an acoustic piece for their first album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., but was later overdubbed with electric instruments and re-released as a single in September 1965. The single slowly climbed the charts until it reached number one on New Year’s Day 1966. The song was included in the 1966 album Sounds of Silence.

The song was originally called “The Sounds of Silence,” and is titled that way on the early albums in which it appeared and on the single. In later compilations, it was retitled “The Sound of Silence.” Both the singular and the plural form of the word appear in the lyrics.

The song was used three times in the film The Graduate, played during the opening credits and the closing footage, and in the film Bobby, where it is played during Robert Kennedy’s victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel, just before his assassination.
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