Disturbed’s heavy metal cover of The Sound of Silence was released in 2015 on their album Immortalized, transforming the original 1964 folk classic into a global phenomenon that topped the Billboard Hard Rock chart in 2016. The original song was written by Paul Simon and recorded by the duo Simon & Garfunkel, whose initial acoustic version on the album Wednesday Morning, 3 AM was a commercial failure.
The track’s history is defined by a pivotal 1965 remix by producer Tom Wilson, who overdubbed electric instrumentation onto the acoustic recording without the duo’s knowledge after college radio stations began playing the original. This remix, inspired by the folk-rock sound of Bob Dylan and The Byrds, propelled the song to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966, introducing themes of emotional alienation and societal disconnection that resonated during the Vietnam War era.
Disturbed’s reinterpretation is often viewed as a darker evolution of the song’s original warning, with vocalist David Draiman delivering a powerful, anguished performance that reflects a continued failure of society to heed the message of communicative silence. The cover has been widely used in media and sports, including a notable performance by French figure skaters at the Winter Olympics, cementing the song’s legacy across generations.
[Verse 1]
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
[Verse 2]
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
[Verse 3]
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 shared
And no one dared disturb the sound of silence
[Verse 4]
“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
[Verse 5]
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 sound of silence
