The Sound of Silence was written and composed by Paul Simon and first recorded by Simon & Garfunkel, the American folk rock duo. Its original acoustic recording was made on 10 March 1964 at Columbia's 7th Avenue Studios in New York, produced by Tom Wilson, and it was released on 19 October 1964 on the duo's debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Simon later recorded the song alone for The Paul Simon Songbook (1965).
In June 1965 Tom Wilson overdubbed an electric version without the duo's knowledge. Released as a single in September 1965, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 1 January 1966, and it was then included on the album Sounds of Silence (1966). The song was also featured in the film The Graduate (1967). The genre most associated with the song is folk rock.
