The song's origin and basis are unclear, with some thinking that the song commented on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, as the song was recorded three months after the assassination, although Simon & Garfunkel had performed the song live as Kane & Garr two months before the assassination.

In 1964, the American music duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel released a song titled The Sound of Silence. Garfunkel, one half of the duo and co-writer of the famous song, summed up the meaning of this song by stating, “this is a song about the inability of people to communicate with each other” (Patton, 2023).

“We were really best friends up until Bridge Over Troubled Water,” he shares, according to People. “[Afterward], it didn't have the harmony of the friendship … that was broken.” Simon contends that Garfunkel accepting a role in the 1970 film Catch-22 played a major role in the divide between them.