Sounds of Silence

This article is about the album by Simon and Garfunkel. For other uses, see Sounds of Silence (disambiguation).

Untitled

Sounds of Silence is the second studio album by Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 17, 1966. The album's title is a slight modification of the title of the duo's first major hit, "The Sound of Silence", which originally was released as "The Sounds of Silence". The song had earlier been released in an acoustic version on the album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., and later on the soundtrack to the movie The Graduate. Without the knowledge of Paul Simon or Art Garfunkel, electric guitars, bass and drums were overdubbed by Columbia Records staff producer Tom Wilson on June 15, 1965. This new version was released as a single in September 1965, and opens the album.

"Homeward Bound" was released on the album in the UK, placed at the beginning of Side 2 before "Richard Cory". It was also released as part of the box set Simon & Garfunkel Collected Works, on both LP and CD. Many of the songs in the album had been written by Paul Simon while he lived in London during 1965.

Solo acoustic versions of "I Am a Rock", "Leaves That Are Green", "April Come She Will", "A Most Peculiar Man", and "Kathy's Song" had appeared on The Paul Simon Songbook, released in August 1965 in England as had another version of the title track. "Richard Cory" was based on a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" was essentially a rewrite of the previous album's "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.", "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" had appeared on the b-side of "The Sound of Silence" a few months before and "Anji" was a cover of an instrumental piece by guitarist Davey Graham whom Simon had met in England. Hence the only brand new Paul Simon composition on the album was "Blessed".

The album is also included in its entirety as part of the Simon & Garfunkel box sets Collected Works and The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964–1970). On March 22, 2013, it was announced that the album will be preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, calling it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Professional ratings

Review scores
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Track listing

All tracks are written by Paul Simon, except where noted

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recorded	Length
1.	"The Sound of Silence"		March 10, 1964 (basic track) June 15, 1965 (overdubs)	3:08
2.	"Leaves That Are Green"		December 13, 1965	2:23
3.	"Blessed"		December 21, 1965	3:16
4.	"Kathy's Song"		December 21, 1965	3:21
5.	"Somewhere They Can't Find Me"		April 5, 1965	2:37
6.	"Anji"	Davey Graham	December 13, 1965	2:17

Side two

No.	Title	Recorded	Length
7.	"Richard Cory"	December 14, 1965	2:57
8.	"A Most Peculiar Man"	December 22, 1965	2:34
9.	"April Come She Will"	December 21, 1965	1:51
10.	"We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"	April 5, 1965	2:00
11.	"I Am a Rock"	December 14, 1965	2:50

Produced by Bob Johnston

Bonus tracks (2001 CD reissue)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recorded	Length
12.	"Blues Run the Game"	Jackson C. Frank	December 21, 1965	2:55
13.	"Barbriallen" (Previously unreleased)	Traditional	July 8, 1970	4:06
14.	"Rose of Aberdeen" (Previously unreleased)	Traditional	July 8, 1970	2:02
15.	"Roving Gambler" (Previously unreleased)	Traditional	July 8, 1970	3:03

Track 12 Produced by Bob Johnston Tracks 13–15 Produced by Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel & Roy Halee

Track listing (UK version)

All tracks are written by Paul Simon, except where noted

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Recorded	Length
1.	"The Sound of Silence"		March 10, 1964 (basic track) June 15, 1965 (overdubs)	3:08
2.	"Leaves That Are Green"		December 13, 1965	2:23
3.	"Blessed"		December 21, 1965	3:16
4.	"Kathy's Song"		December 21, 1965	3:21
5.	"Somewhere They Can't Find Me"		April 5, 1965	2:37
6.	"Anji"	Davey Graham	December 13, 1965	2:17

Side two

No.	Title	Recorded	Length
7.	"Homeward Bound (UK Versions only)"	December 14, 1965	2:57
8.	"Richard Cory"	December 14, 1965	2:57
9.	"A Most Peculiar Man"	December 22, 1965	2:34
10.	"April Come She Will"	December 21, 1965	1:51
11.	"We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"	April 5, 1965	2:00
12.	"I Am a Rock"	December 14, 1965	2:50

Notes

• English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg lifted the opening lines of "Leaves That Are Green" ("I was 21 years when I wrote this song/I'm 22 now, but I won't be for long") for his song "A New England", which appeared on Bragg's 1983 EP Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy. These same lyrics can be found in the Kirsty MacColl version of this song. Released as a cover in 1984, the song was MacColl's biggest solo hit—reaching #7 in the UK and #8 in Ireland.
• The Tremeloes' recording of "Blessed" became their 1966 "solo debut" single (without Brian Poole).
• "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" is essentially a reworking of the title track of the duo's first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. It was recorded along with "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" a few months before producer Tom Wilson dubbed electric instruments on "Sounds of Silence". The recurring descending bass line in the track as well as its introductory guitar riff were borrowed from Davey Graham's acoustic guitar piece "Anji", a cover of which follows on the album.
• Two songs on the album deal with suicide: "Richard Cory" and "A Most Peculiar Man".
• The song "Richard Cory" was based on a poem with the same title by Edwin Arlington Robinson. The chorus, however, is entirely of Simon's composition.
• Them (with Van Morrison) recorded "Richard Cory" as a single in 1966. Wings (band) covered "Richard Cory" on their 1976 live triple album Wings over America.
• The song "April Come She Will" bears structural resemblance to a traditional English rhyme, "Cuckoo, cuckoo, what do you do?", a phenology of the common cuckoo from April through September.
• Nancy Wilson (of Heart) performs a cover of "Kathy's Song" on her 1999 album Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop.
• Eva Cassidy covered "Kathy's Song" on her 2000 CD Time After Time, released four years after her death.

Cover

• The album cover photo was shot at Franklin Canyon Park in Los Angeles, California.
• There are three cover variations of the LP:
  • Original issue: SIMON & GARFUNKEL on one line; SOUNDS OF SILENCE on another, all in capital letters, no song titles on the front.
  • Second issue: Enlarged title letters, with only the first letter of the words "Sounds" and "Silence" in the album title capitalized. The first letters in "Simon" and "Garfunkel" are capitalized, but the rest are in lower-case. Song titles also included on the front.
  • Third issue: Same front cover as the second, the back cover has the copy of Tiger Beat magazine in Garfunkel's hand airbrushed out.
• The original LP label mistakenly spells "Anji" as "Angie" and credits it to Bert Jansch, who had recorded the tune for his 1965 debut album. The back cover of the original LP sleeve properly credits Davey Graham as composer but retains the "Angie" misspelling. Both errors were corrected for subsequent reissues.
• On older LP and CD issues of the album, "The Sound of Silence" is titled as "The Sounds of Silence" on both the cover and label. Similarly, "We've Got a Groovy Thing Goin'" is titled as "We've Got a Groovey Thing Goin'".
• The college scarves they both are wearing were from The Campion School, Hornchurch, UK. This school was attended by the boys of the Brentwood family where Paul lodged during his time in the UK. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campion_School,_Hornchurch

Charts

Chart (1966)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart	13
US Album Charts	21
Chart (1970)	Peak position
Spanish Albums Chart	2

Personnel

• Paul Simon – lead vocals, guitar
• Art Garfunkel – lead vocals
• Fred Carter Jr., Glen Campbell, John South – guitar
• Larry Knechtel – keyboards
• Joe Osborn – bass guitar
• Hal Blaine – drums
• Bob Johnston – producer

Sounds of Silence was recorded in April, June and December 1965 at CBS Studios in New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California.

"The Sound of Silence" (electric overdubs) personnel

• Al Gorgoni, Vinnie Bell – guitar
• Joe Mack – bass guitar
• Bobby Gregg – drums

"The Sound of Silence" overdubs were recorded at Columbia's "Studio A" at 799 Seventh Avenue near 52nd Street by Columbia Records staff producer Tom Wilson on June 15, 1965.

Further reading

• Charlesworth, Chris, The Complete Guide to the Music of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, Omnibus Press 1996
• Maclauchlan, Paul, "Paul Simon Discography 1955 to 1999 : Simon & Garfunkel – 1964 to 1971"
• Williams, Paul, "Sounds of Silence: Simon & Garfunkel", Crawdaddy! magazine, first issue, January 30, 1966; reprinted in The Crawdaddy! book : writings (and images) from the magazine of rock, by Paul Williams, Milwaukee, WI : Hal Leonard Corp., 2002.

External links

• Sony Music