“The Sound of Silence” (CYRIL Remix) by Disturbed (Simon & Garfunkel Cover), Monday, November 4, 2024
In 1964, Simon & Garfunkel released the first recorded version of “The Sound of Silence” on their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel performed the song under their old pseudonyms, Kane & Garr, in Greenwich Village in 1963. The song has been thought by many to be a reaction to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, though, the song was performed before that fateful November day in 1963. Paul Simon wrote the song in the bathroom with the light off so that he could concentrate on the echoes and the patterns in the tile. “The Sound of Silence” became a sleeper hit starting in the spring of 1965, a year after its parent album had been a commercial failure. A late-night DJ at Boston’s WBZ played the song and college students loved it. The folk-rock’s ambiguous and poetic lyrics resonated with the counterculture, the silenced young voices who felt unable to make a difference. Once the song gained popularity, producer Tom Wilson gathered session musicians to record a rock-dubbed version of “The Sound of Silence.” Wilson didn’t inform the duo that he had re-released the track because Simon & Garfunkel were “no longer a working unit.”
HELLO DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND. The remixed version of “The Sound of Silence” became a number 1 hit in America and charted in several other countries bringing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel back together. The relationship between the duo was always tenuous. They recorded together until 1970 and reunited sporadically afterward. It’s hard to believe that “The Sound of Silence” is now 60 years old. It seems musically and lyrically evergreen. The song has appeared in movies and television shows, always adding a hint of the mysterious wherever it goes. It became one of the musical motifs in Arrested Development when Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) remembered something he was ashamed of before taking one of his “forget me nows” or a rufie that helps erase his memory. In 2015, the nu-metal band Disturbed released a cover of “The Sound of Silence” on their sixth studio album Indestructible. The band had previously covered Genesis’ “Land of Confusion” for their 2005 album Ten Thousand Fists. The cover of “The Sound of Silence,” though, gave the veteran hard-rock band their highest-charting Hot 100 hit. They made several TV appearances promoting the song and even earned the approval of Paul Simon who admired the interpretation.
IN THE NAKED LIGHT I SAW TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE, MAYBE MORE. “The Sound of Silence” is a song about isolation and communication breakdown. Other themes such as religion, idolatry, and indifference make the song’s cryptic lyrics always relevant in contemporary life. In a particularly divisive year, Australian DJ CYRIL remixed Disturb’s cover of “The Sound of Silence,” making the Paul Simon-penned hit return to the charts 60 years after its first release. Disturbed’s gravel-voiced David Draiman delivered the band’s cover in a somber, gothic style with a piano creating a dreamlike landscape. The remix speeds up Draiman’s voice but keeps the gothic piano. Draiman’s voice gets more powerful and theatrical as the song goes on. Sped up, the remix feels a bit like a meme particularly when David’s voice becomes more dramatic. “The Sound of Silence” is a serious song and Disturbed is a very serious band with hard rock classics like “Down with the Sickness,” “Stupify,” and “Prayer.” However, taking to TikTok, Draiman lipsynced to the CYRIL remix, dancing to the club rhythm. I’m not sure how big CYRIL’s remix of “The Sound of Silence” is on the dance floor, though it charted pretty well on the dance charts. Still, it’s an interesting anti-escapist dance floor song. The issues of the day are far too important to turn off our brains in a 2010 Ke$ha, Katy Perry, LMFAO discotheque. We want to be mindful but forget about the seriousness for just a minute.
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