On this date in 1964 Simon and Garfunkel completed work on the original version of Sounds of Silence. 10 facts about the song:
The song was written by Paul Simon when he was 21 years old. It took him six months to perfect the lyrics.
At that time, Simon would often take himself off to the bathroom to play compose songs, because the acoustics were good in there. He had a habit of turning the lights off and the taps on. He found it soothing.
It has been speculated that the song was about the Assassination of John F Kennedy as it was recorded soon after; it has also been suggested it was about the Vietnam War. It wasn’t, but many people felt it made a powerful anti-war song.
Simon and Garfunkel themselves say it’s about the inability of people to communicate with each other.
In January 1966 The Sounds of Silence had a one-on-one battle with The Beatles' We Can Work It Out for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
The original version wasn’t released as a single in the UK, although the Irish band The Bachelors had a hit with a cover of it.
50 years after its original release, in 2015, a cover version was released by American heavy metal band Disturbed.
In 1999, BMI named it the 18th most-performed song of the 20th century. In 2004, it was ranked No. 156 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. However, its popularity wasn’t universal as Blender magazine voted it the 42nd worst song ever.
The song appears in the film The Graduate. director, Mike Nichols, put it on as a work track and was going to replace it, but as the film came together it became clear that the song was perfect for the film.
A parody appears in a 1994 episode of The Simpsons called "Lady Bouvier's Lover", entitled "The Sound of Grampa".
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