Paul Simon

Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you.

Bookends, 1968

Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces,She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy,I said, 'Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera.'

America, 1968

Hang on to your hopes, my friend.That's an easy thing to say,But if your hopes should pass awaySimply pretend that you can build them again.

A Hazy Shade of Winter, 1968

Someone told me It's all happening at the zoo. I do believe it, I do believe it's true.

At The Zoo, 1968

Slow down, you move too fast.You got to make the morning last.Just kicking down the cobblestones.Looking for fun and Feelin' Groovy.

The 59th Street Bridge Song, 1966

I am shielded in my armor Hiding in my room safe within my womb I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock. I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries.

I Am a Rock, 1966

I’ve built walls, A fortress deep and mighty, That none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.

I Am a Rock, 1966

I'm sitting in the railway station.Got a ticket to my destination.On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand.And ev'ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.

Homeward Bound, 1966

Home where my thought's escaping,Home where my music's playing,Home where my love lies waitingSilently for me.

Homeward Bound, 1966

A winter's dayIn a deep and darkDecember;I am alone,Gazing from my window to the streets belowOn a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.I am a rock,I am an island.

I Am a Rock, 1966

And the war rages on in a land called somewhere And Generals order their men to kill And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten While a little cloud weeps on the side of a hill.

"The Side of a Hill" (written under the pseudonym "Paul Kane" out of his admiration for the film Citizen Kane) on The Paul Simon Song Book (1965), 1965

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 shared No one dared Disturb the sound of silence.

The Sound of Silence, 1964

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 sound of silence"

The Sound of Silence, 1964

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.

The Sound of Silence Full lyrics online, 1964

"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.

The Sound of Silence, 1964