Paul Simon believes one of his most famous songs can live on for generations.
The 84-year-old legendary singer-songwriter shared the comment during a conversation with Anthony Mason on the show Alchemy with Antoniusfurther revealing The sound of silence as the one with the best chance of lasting the next 100 years.
Simon, who wrote the song when he was just 22 years old, described the song as something that came naturally to him and admitted that decades later he still considers it special.
The sound of silenceFirst released in 1964 by Simon & Garfunkel, it was inspired by a simple moment. Simon explained that the idea came from hearing an echo in a bathroom. He called the experience “a gift” and said the song felt more advanced than anything he had written before at that point in his career.
Simon also said he believes the song’s ability to connect with people from different cultures is one of the reasons it can endure for decades to come.
He remembered seeing videos online of people performing the song in completely different ways. One featured a rabbi singing it in Hebrew, while the other featured a Native American man playing the melody on a flute in the American West.
Seeing those performances, Simon felt like the song had gone beyond the original version and become part of a larger cultural connection. He said if a song is still remembered after 100 years, it has truly become part of history and culture.
Simon also remembered the exact moment he realized the song was becoming a hit. After seeing the song rise to No. 59 on the charts, he said he knew immediately that his life had been changed forever.
