Paul Simon – Sounds Of Silence lyrics

The song is, in my opinion, about sheer loneliness and isolation in the big city, when you know nothing and nobody. Silence is the most used metaphor for abandonment and disinterest in what one has to say. Paul Simon reiterated this message in another great song, "The Boxer", a year or two later.

What a beautiful, poetic song! This is from the songwriting school of what I'd call abstract imagery. It can mean different things in what ever way you perceive it, that's good art. The whole thing is a vision that might come to us in a dream. To me it speaks of the mistakes of mankind and what we place our emphasis in life on. Because of our tendency to ignore warnings that may come to us in various ways we do bad things to ourselves, each other and to our planet. Anyone else have thoughts on this. One of my all time favorite songs.

A revolt song against establishment, injustice, and passiveness of people.
It is a warning and a call for change, a call for revolt.
Here is a breakdown of the song the way I see it:

“Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again”

Depression. He feels alone with nobody to communicate his thoughts. Nobody who sees what he sees.

“Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping”

Not clear what kind of a vision is he talking about, but from the rest of the song we can conclude it is about oppression, injustice, manipulation, and brainwashing.
Seeing different types of oppression, and injustice over the time, while not understanding or not even trying to understand what is behind (while I was sleeping), he does nothing about it. Slowly, from all those disconnected pixels of a world around him, he starts forming a bigger picture, a vision, when connected altogether.

“And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence”

Yet, although, he finally starts seeing the problem, and the cause, he still is not doing anything.

“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”

The metaphor use in this part is very heavy, so I will try first to explain some of it.
Narrow - restricted
Cobblestone - paving stone tightly put together, and firmly depressed into ground - oppressed people with restricted rights.
Halo - a ring of light around or above the head of a holy person - god, power, police, establishment.
He feels like if he is the only one who sees that mass of oppressed people, and injustice toward them created by the system, yet he still ignores it (I turned my collar to the cold and damp). [Think of homeless people you pass by. How many times do we turn our head the other way? How many times we ask ourselves why? If we know why, what did we do to change it?]

“When my eyes were stabbed by
The flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence”

The moment he completes the picture, the parts are connected and he has a clear vision, the blinds on his eyes are finally off(“When my eyes were stabbed by The flash of a neon light That split the night). He would like to scream and do something (And touched the sound of silence), but still not there yet.

“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 share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence”

He realizes, he is not alone who sees all that injustice, many more (Ten thousand people, maybe more) sees that, yet they never mention, or understand that, nor they act upon that. Although, they think about the problems, oppression, and injustice around them (People writing songs that voices never share) they are not ready to stand up and change the situation.
At the other hand, mainstream media and politicians are pushing narrative that is basically meant to passivize people, and distract, push their anger towards invented enemy, minority groups, and religions. (People talking without speaking People hearing without listening).
They have no courage to revolt against the system (And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence).
Even though not completely content with the system, and their lives, they would rather comply, and let other people rule them, than to try to change the system afraid to lose what they have.

“"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows"

He warns people about passiveness ("Fools", said I, "You do not know Silence like a cancer grows). If nothing gets changed, and people keep complying, slowly they will get attuned to that and it will become even worse.

"Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"

He is calling people to revolt.

"But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence”

But nobody answers the call.

"And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made"

People still blinded with false idols, money, and false promises, and empty dreams served by the mass media controlled by establishment and used to brainwash and control people.

"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.""

At the time the song was written, besides the mass media (TV, radio, and newspapers), the only way people could express their through was through graffiti ("The words of the prophets are Written on the subway walls And tenement halls), but they do not have impact on larger mass of people (And whispered in the sound of silence.")

I heard S&G version so many times, but did not listen...

Background
The song was written 1962 and released 1964.
Paul Simon wrote a song when he was 21 and took him over 10 months to finish it. According to Paul, parts of the lyrics came from literature he read at college at that time and incorporated into song. At that time Paul was frequently passing through the poor parts of the city on the way to college.

Sounds to me like Simon and Garfunkel are singing about religion in modern times. The protagonist is describing a dream where he is walking alone in his own halo of light, when another light shows up out of nowhere. In this other light, are other people. People who are saying nothing important, hearing nothing important, and singing nothing important. All the man hears from them is silence. When he tries to talk some sense into them, using phrasing that sounds like it came from the bible itself, they respond with nothing but a cold shoulder. Instead they turn to the other light, nothing more than a neon sign, and start worshipping it. And what does the sign say? "The words of the prophets are written on subway walls and tenement halls".
Basic translation: the man plays Jesus in his dream, where he finds out he and his prophets have been replaced by materialism and graffiti.