Paul Simon Shares Which of His Songs He Thinks “Will Last 100 Years”

Paul Simon is revealing which of his songs has real staying power. During an appearance on Anthony Mason’s Alchemy with Anthony, the music legend pointed to “The Sound of Silence” as the track that will stand the test of time.

Simon penned the 1964 Simon & Garfunkel track when he was just 22, a fact that he still can’t wrap his head around.

“It was a gift to me when I got it. It was way beyond where I was at as a songwriter,” he said. “I have a feeling that if any of my songs last 100 years, ‘The Sound of Silence’ has the best chance.”

As for why he believes as much, Simon credited the far-reaching nature of the track.

“Somebody sent me a video of a rabbi singing ‘Sound of Silence’ in Hebrew, and I thought, ‘That’s interesting,’” he said. “And then I saw a video of a Native American guy, just sitting somewhere in the West, playing it on a flute.”

“I thought, ‘Well, if it’s gone that far around as a melody, maybe it’ll last 100 years,’” Simon continued. “If you last 100 years, then that’s in the culture.”

“The Sound of Silence” wasn’t an immediate hit following its release. It was only after a remix of the track came out that it found success.

During an April appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Simon revealed that he knew the song was going to be popular after it found its way onto Cashbox‘s Top 100 chart.

“I said, I never forget this, I said, ‘My life is irrevocably changed,’” Simon recalled. “It was.”

Eventually, the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped Cashbox‘s chart too.

Paul Simon on “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

“The Sound of Silence” is far from Simon’s only hit.

A few years after that song came out, Simon & Garfunkel released “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The track sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and nabbed five Grammys.

“I have no idea where it came from,” Simon said of the song, which he wrote himself, in The Making Of Bridge Over Troubled Water. “It came all of the sudden.”

“It was one of the most shocking moments in my songwriting career,” he added. “I remember thinking, ‘This is considerably better than I usually write.’”

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

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