Revisiting an inspiring classic in honor of our 50th anniversary.
We recently heard the Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel again. Its poetic lyrics and emotional melody stirred feelings within us that feel relevant to the current state of the world, even though they were written in the 60s.
Not only that, but the song resonated with us because of how it brings to mind the principles of community and Placemaking that we advocate for in our work. A few years after Sound of Silence first came out, when it was still a regular on the radio waves, we founded Project for Public Spaces (PPS). This week, we celebrate its 50th anniversary.
In honor of 50 great years of bringing communities closer via Placemaking, we want to share our favorite song and its message with you, in the hopes that it can bring people together and inspire them today the way it did us decades ago when we embarked on this amazing journey.
The Sound of Silence was written in 1964, during the biggest anti-war movement in the United States. As bombing of North Vietnam escalated, protests broke out around the US, questioning the war's morality. This song in the context of the times felt like a call to action, encouraging people to speak up. Not only that, it urged people to connect. At a performance in 1966, Garfunkel said the song was about "the inability of people to communicate with each other...what you see around you is people who are unable to love each other."
We are in the midst of difficult times right now as well. Millions of people are feeling afraid and alone as political tensions rise, technology overpowers various industries, and the way of life we have become used to is threatened. People are investing a lot of energy in fear and even hate – a product of fear – instead of in hope and in change. They need something to remind them that the key to a better future is love, connection, and collaboration.
We believe that what they need is the simple idea that collectively and individually, they have the power to create places in their community where they can thrive, via the process of Placemaking. Placemaking is not political, religious, or partisan. It is about gathering with your neighbors and making your neighborhood better. It is about creating places full of joy where everyone can thrive. It is a practice that unites us in a world that constantly tries to divide us.
Much like The Sound of Silence.
The song became popular globally – a top-ten hit in Australia, Austria, West Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and more – and is still one of the most famous songs ever written. In 1999, Broadcast Music Incorporated titled The Sound of Silence the 18th most-performed song in the 20th century. In 2004, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Today, the original song has over 150 million views on YouTube, and an impassioned rock cover by the band Disturbed has 1 billion – a rare achievement.
So what is it exactly that makes this song so special? What about it touches people of all backgrounds, across decades? To understand, we need to look at the lyrics:
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
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
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
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"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
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 sounds of silence"
The song starts with a melancholy feeling, and something about its pensive melody and the reference to a profound silence touches a stillness and sadness in the listener that is hard to define. That is why those beginning lyrics are the most memorable and recognizable.
This sadness is something we are seeing around us everywhere these days as humanity grapples with an epidemic of isolation. People are finding themselves disconnected, both physically, emotionally and spiritually. As people we naturally seek support and social life – fundamental human needs – but a world designed for cars instead of people pulls us apart. Forced online, the tensions of the times divide us further in forums and comment sections.
Fred Kent
When the song's melody picks up, the narrator talks about a dream where people gather and light shines, piercing through the darkness of the song's beginning. There is a warm hopefulness that thaws the initial melancholy. But it doesn't last long as the narrator observes that, even though the people are exchanging words, they are not succeeding at understanding each other. They are listening, but not hearing. It seems that while communication is taking place, it is empty and superficial. There is an absence of true connection.
Instead, the song says people are looking and praying to a "neon god" that they have created, referencing the flashy signs that characterize a fractured society. So many people are distracted from the serious things going on around them by entertainment, technology, and the media. Blinded and entranced, they have forgotten to look to each other, to connect with each other, and to help each other. The result of that is the sound of silence.
In the context of the song, "silence" seems to be a metaphor for the status quo that nobody dares disturb. Out of fear, out of complacency. But it is a status quo that needs to change. It is deeply harming us. The lyrics chides the people for being fools, saying "I don't know," because "silence like a cancer grows." Staying silent enables is not an option...it to continue and spread.
In today's complicated times, we can see this happening all around us. Confronted with growing injustices, it is vital to speak up. As tensions rise and threats loom on a local and global scale, we need to speak, and moreover, we need to gather.
This is where Placemaking, community building, and creating great public places come in – the focus of our work for the past fifty years.
At the heart of Placemaking is the concept of community and coming together in the real world to connect with each other. Not through screens and "neon signs," but in person. The song critiques people for speaking but not hearing each other, the way we do too often on the Internet, TV, and social media. Screens divide us. We need to put them down and go to public places where we can be physically together.
Only in person, face-to-face, can we really connect, understand each other, organize, and enact true change. Only together, with open minds and open hearts, can we break the silence, change the status quo, and move into an era of peace and progress.
Music has always played an important role in historical movements, acting as a shared language that speaks to people on a level that transcends language. This song has been a piece of history for 60 years because of the powerful way it inspires and connects people, much like Placemaking has done for the past 50. We hope both will continue being forces for transformation, both internally and in the world at large.
More on the Global Placemaking Movement
The mission of the Placemaking movement is to be a global network of leaders who together use Placemaking as a way to create healthy, inclusive, and beloved communities in order to incite a renaissance of community connection in public spaces around the globe. Through various publications, presentations, campaigns, and catalytic projects, we can create transformative impact on communities everywhere. Our work grows out of more than 50 years devoted to building the global movement which encompasses the organizations we lead including the Placemaking Fund, the Social Life Project, and PlacemakingX .
The Placemaking network provides an opportunity for global and local organizations and foundations to scale up their projects for collective impact. It works in a number of regions around the world where teams of people conduct placemaking initiatives and use them to address local issues. Collecting and connecting them via the Placemaking network fosters collaborations across cultures and continents for greater impacts. Harnessing their passion and knowledge offers them a chance to also have an impact on major issues such as climate change and the epidemic of loneliness.
The Global PlacemakingX Team – Nov. 2023, Mexico City
Our Network at the Global Placemaking Summit in Mexico City 11/23
Fred Kent
PlacemakingX/Social Life Project Team
SLP founders and article authors Kathy and Fred, flaneurs of public life.
Fred Kent
If you are interested in collaborating (articles, presentations, exhibits, projects, and more) or supporting the cause contact us.
