This, dear friends, is a good news story when most of us are much in need of a good news story. It turns out that a well-known entrepreneur, inventor, investor and philanthropist, Sanford “Sandy” Greenberg, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Johns Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute, published in July 2020 his memoir entitled “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness into an Extraordinary Vision for Life.” We knew none of this story . . . and wouldn’t be surprised if at least a few of you were unfamiliar with this story as well. But the story weaves through a poem which we believe almost all of you will know. First, the poem:
“Hello darkness, my old friend . . .”
The Sound of Silence
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 dare
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 its warning. In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls . . .
And tenement halls”
And whispered . . . in the sounds . . . of silence.
Paul Simon, 1963 &1964
With the collaboration of Art Garfunkle (covered later)
We believe this to be one of the most poignant poems written in English in the twentieth century. Credit goes to author, Paul Simon, with credit also to Art Garfunkle, although that part of the story will unfold below. Having turned the poem into a song, they recorded the song with Columbia Records, releasing it in October 1964 in their debut album titled “Wednesday Morning, 3AM.” The recording was a commercial failure. They disbanded, Simon returning to England, and Garfunkle returning to Columbia University where he was a student. A few months following, a Columbia Records engineer/producer (without Simon’s or Garfunkle’s knowledge) overdubbed the track (which originally was acoustic [unamplified] only) with electric instruments and drums and released the remixed version as a single in September 1965. Within three months, the song was Billboard Number One. They hastily reunited, recorded their second album entitled “Sounds of Silence” with this as the lead song. My Albion College roommate, Rick Smith, learning I didn’t know who Simon & Garfunkle were, was in town for a visit and had taken me to the local record store in Washington DC to buy the album for me in September 1966. I still have the album. And, Smith & I still have each other in our lives, sharing calls a couple times each week.
Adding another twist to this story, it was Rick’s wife, Kathy, who advised us just recently of Greenberg’s July 2020 memoir and the unfolding story of the poem’s/song’s lyrics. Mary & I purchased and read Greenberg’s memoir. To say his memoir is an inspiration is a gross understatement. Further, having spent my lifetime playing guitar and singing the songs of the times with friends at parties, as well as a lifetime of writing poems and song lyrics myself, this story is right up our alley. It is a stunning story.
As to Art Garfunkle’s collaboration with Paul Simon on the poem and song, Greenberg and Garfunkle were roommates at Columbia University, having met in their first week at Columbia in 1958. They developed a strong friendship which included having made a pledge to each other to always be there in case the other was in need. In 1960, Greenberg’s eyesight began to fail. He became blind, became deeply depressed, and left Columbia not intending on returning. With no notice, Garfunkle flew to Buffalo, talked Greenberg into returning to Columbia, and guided Greenberg out of depression and back into life. Garfunkle referred to himself as “Darkness”: “Sandy, Darkness has come to read to you again.” “Sandy, Darkness has come to help you get to class again.” Greenberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and, following a Marshall Scholarship at Oxford, received his M.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard and M.B.A. at Columbia, married his high school sweetheart, has three kids, has had an unbelievable career, and has written an extraordinary memoir.
Garfunkle took all these stories about his times with Greenberg to his high school friend, Paul Simon. The United States is blessed with an amazing number of extraordinary poets; they are called singer-songwriters. Paul Simon is among the very top. Simon used the stories as inspiration as he wrote the poem and then the song. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than this for me! What a grand story! There’s not enough space here to relate more but we encourage your own internet research and perhaps reading Greenberg’s memoir. “Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again . . . .”