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Paul Simon protests USA’s “sound of silence” on 9/11 truth

Charles Moffat: US Censorship 2001

Paul Simon had been told to play “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” at the Ground Zero tenth anniversary event. Without telling anybody what was coming, he played a 9/11 truth protest song instead. The “people talking without listening” didn’t get it. The awakened people did. This is one of the most profound moments of musical protest ever recorded.

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
And 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

15 Thoughts to “Paul Simon protests USA’s “sound of silence” on 9/11 truth”

  1. Anonymous

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

  2. Our offer of $1,000 to any University of Wisconsin teacher who would defend the 9/11 Commission Report was met by a deafening roar of silence.

    Paul Simon nails it.

  3. The most moving thing I saw this anniversary. Thanks, Kevin; Thanks Paul.

  4. Adam Syed

    And in what is almost certainly the biggest coincidence I've ever experienced in my life, I was listening to that very song on a CD (track on repeat, while listening to the names of the victims being read), only to then see a live Paul Simon get up and play it at Ground Zero.

  5. Adam, that's quite a coincidence! (Or a message from Allah?)

    So you were at Ground Zero? I thought Simon was playing in the area they were keeping people like us locked out of.

  6. Anonymous

    The authorities lock out the first responders and try to keep the truthers away from Ground Zero. So Paul Simon responds with "The Sound of Silence." It doesn't get any better than that.

  7. Anonymous

    The whole city of New York knows that Larry Silverstein is a mobster who got into real estate through the exotic dance and massage business. He bought the WTC right before 9/11, even though it was condemned for asbestos, and doubled the insurance. After 9/11 he walked out of the courtroom of Judge Hellerstein, another known mobster, with five billion in insurance cash. This despite Larry's public confession to blowing up Building 7.

    Where is the New York Times? Where is Democracy Now?

    The sound of silence is right.

  8. Anonymous

    Ten years. Time to break the silence.

  9. Another great pop song that was revived on 9/11 for its 9/11 truth themes is Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes." Rick Bernardo played it beautifully at the State Capitol event in St. Paul. Thank you, Rick! These songs are even better comments on the world post-9/11 than when they were written. Jackson Browne – Doctor My Eyes + lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqFUmo8VVg0

  10. Adam Syed

    I couldn't make it to NYC regrettably, even though I'd been intending to ever since the 5th anniversary. Due to a combination of factors. I was in Cincy watching on TV, listening to the song on my laptop CD player while listening to the name-reciting ceremony. Then, my eyes popped out of my sockets as I saw Paul get up on stage and start it live… I instantly hit Pause on my CD player.

    Maybe it's more than coincidence… Paul Simon and I are on the same wavelength. I wanted to hear the song, he wanted to play it.

  11. I tell you, Adam, it was message from Allah.

    Jung called them synchronicities.

    Being given a sign like that is…well, a very good sign…and a blessing. It means you're on the right track.

    When someone does something really brave and good, as Paul did, and as you have been doing, it yields baraka, "blessing" energy. Often these "miracles" – synchronicities, ESP, healing, etc. – start to break out around such people.

    I'm not making this up. I did my Ph.D. dissertation on miracles in traditional Moroccan Sufi saints' legends and contemporary personal experience narratives. It's very real, and very cool. Congratulations, and keep on doing what you're doing!

  12. Anonymous

    LOVING ALL, NO LIES AT ALL, ONLY TRUTH, PEACE ABOVE PROFIT, WISDOM TO LISTEN,

    Daria Ilene Annglow Mercer, PACIFIST, SEEKER

  13. Adam Syed

    By the way, does anyone have any idea as to roughly how many truthers were "at" (outside) ground zero this year? Was it thousands? Did it surpass the 5th anniversary?

    I know millions more would have loved to be there but are too financially strapped, etc.

  14. Anonymous

    The way Paul Simon sang this beautiful song is more than moving. I didn't watch any of the ceremonies, so catching this is wonderful Kevin.
    And listening to you and Adam Syed sharing is also a blessing since you are two of my favorite 9/11truthers. Thanks to both of you for your very hard work through these years!
    Shirley Miller

  15. Anonymous

    Great to see a great artist not use his celebrity to become less objective for more popularity.

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