What did Paul Simon mean by......"the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made"?

What did your satanic cult mean by this?
[link to www.jw.org (secure)]
"The Bible gives the names of Jehovah God and of his Son, Jesus Christ; yet, nowhere does it name the holy spirit. (Isaiah 42:8; Luke 1:31) When the Christian martyr Stephen was given a miraculous heavenly vision, he saw only two persons, not three."

[link to www.biblegateway.com (secure)]
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And the sign flashed its warning

And the words it was forming

and the sign said

The Words of the Prophets are written on the subway walls

and whispered in the sound of silence

I like that the last warnings of the TRUE PROPHETS are written on the subway walls.

You've got a ticket to ride...but is it the highway to hell...or the kings highway.

I shouldn't have to ask. What's in your wallet?

He was Talking about the Golden bull on Wall Street!

a gas trapped in glass glows a soul trapped in a body likes the pretty light

HEBREW RHYMING RAMBLINGS

HINT: The war bled every resource America had, even to the point of rationing. Afterwards, disillusioned survivors turned attention to materialistic creature comforts,... when they displace spiritual values/aspirations, all that remains is....

I like that the last warnings of the TRUE PROPHETS are written on the subway walls.

You've got a ticket to ride...but is it the highway to hell...or the kings highway.

I shouldn't have to ask. What's in your wallet?

With what did they build a golden calf in the desert? And you would need a lot of wood to melt gold. I don't think you can find wood in the desert.

And the sign flashed its warning

And the words it was forming

and the sign said

The Words of the Prophets are written on the subway walls

and whispered in the sound of silence

This version of the song is awesome!

Obviously, he was talking about Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mr. Jehovah that they "bow and pray to."

HINT: The war bled every resource America had, even to the point of rationing. Afterwards, disillusioned survivors turned attention to materialistic creature comforts,... when they displace spiritual values/aspirations, all that remains is....

About 1987, my 8th grade music teacher asked the class what the neon god was, many people replied a TV set. She said that was correct.

I was never very familiar with the song, so, I assume they knew what they were talking about.

My Interpretation
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
-----
~
Hello Enlightened people,
To me, this song also represents the improper communication with our mind.
Our mind is The sound of silence.
It is ON when you close ur eyes.
It has to be listened, respected to believe and followed.
As the writer did, and we get this ultimate song.
-----

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
Beneath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
-----
~
Now we open our eyes.
We look everywhere around us.
We switch on our TV.
We get majority of our thoughts from Screens(TV/Movies) i.e. Neon god.
We fill ourself with thoughts of People, Lifestyle, War, Fashion, Money, Cars,etc.
This makes our mind ponder to a thought.
-----

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 share
And no one deared
Disturb the sound of silence
-----
~
When we watch TV, we find that we try to follow it in our life to completeness.
We follow it even though its fake and manipulated
to fulfill some person's financial needs.
In screens, Actors just speak lines.
In screens, Actors just hear lines.
In screens, Actors dont express their actual thoughts.
Everyone is afraid to touch what one's mind feels like speaking.
They are mere spectators, powerless and hollow from inside.
As they dont touch their own mind(sound of silence).
So we follow them too by being spectators and powerless in our life too.
We dont touch our what our mind(sound of silence) say.
------
"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 writer here ask us to act(Hear my words,take my arms).
Because if we keep only following screens
and dont listen to our own mind(sound of silence)
Then we will run after things dictated by screens our whole life.
We have no idea why we are doing that way and complain till end.
Because we have no idea what we really want and where our happiness lies.
Thats why everyday, we feel so hollow inside.
This hollowness(cancer) grows bigger and bigger.

But still nobody wants to touch that sound of silence(mind)
We look out for solution even though every solution is inside us.
We dont listen, we just hear it.
and its accumulated in the sound of silence(mind) which we never listen.

-----
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 signs said the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence
-----
~
But still we go on with our screens(Neon god).
Neon god laughs here and says to the writer
"Throughtout ages, all the prophets of all the religions have been saying the same things. Earlier it was kings then society, now its screens.
Their have found their place in outside world only (on walls and books)
not inside (the mind).
If they werent successful, where do you stand?
You will also find yourself at the same place i.e. outside the mind"

Thats why millions may have listened to the songs.
Thousands have sung.
Hundreds have interpreted it.
But very few will follow it even then.
We will still follow our neon gods,
And not listen to our sound of silence.
Thus this song will hold significance till mankind remains,
and we will just laugh at this paradox.
shiningdeadon November 15, 2009

Great song. I've thought about these lyrics when I play and sing it, one of the first songs I learned back in the day.

The use of neon in Las Vegas was rapidly duplicated in many major cities, and usually in the business (retail) centers of downtown. So, the consumer marketplace was where the neon sign was located. The 'god' being worshiped is actually several; consumerism, money, status symbols and another one is alluded to in the following verse about the studios and tenements, fame (which these two guys were certainly pursuing!)

The writing on the wall was the false nature of each of these things. Things that society, even today, pushes as "what really matters in life" much to the detriment of our spiritual well being. The verse that refers to the flash of a neon light (again, the imagery of the marketplace), was something that caused an epiphany of sorts for the composer. His belief in the things he'd "bought into", was shattered like a glass tube. It lay in pieces. The remaining story line is his disillusionment with it all. The timbre of the song highlights these various states of mind (soft, slow to start, slow build, dynamic build at the point where the illusion is shattered, and then an anti-climatic point on the closing sections).

But this is just IMHO. Fun thread, DGN, you should have another one for Paul's solo tune, "Mother and Child Reunion" sometime. While a few of his songs were certainly aimed at the lowest common denominator (almost the entire "There goes rhymin' Simon" album), others, like these, are so full of subtle imagery that if you asked me the same question about "Sounds.." next week, I'd probably have a different interpretation.

And the signs said the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls

Great song. I've thought about these lyrics when I play and sing it, one of the first songs I learned back in the day.

The use of neon in Las Vegas was rapidly duplicated in many major cities, and usually in the business (retail) centers of downtown. So, the consumer marketplace was where the neon sign was located. The 'god' being worshiped is actually several; consumerism, money, status symbols and another one is alluded to in the following verse about the studios and tenements, fame (which these two guys were certainly pursuing!)

The writing on the wall was the false nature of each of these things. Things that society, even today, pushes as "what really matters in life" much to the detriment of our spiritual well being. The verse that refers to the flash of a neon light (again, the imagery of the marketplace), was something that caused an epiphany of sorts for the composer. His belief in the things he'd "bought into", was shattered like a glass tube. It lay in pieces. The remaining story line is his disillusionment with it all. The timbre of the song highlights these various states of mind (soft, slow to start, slow build, dynamic build at the point where the illusion is shattered, and then an anti-climatic point on the closing sections).

But this is just IMHO. Fun thread, DGN, you should have another one for Paul's solo tune, "Mother and Child Reunion" sometime. While a few of his songs were certainly aimed at the lowest common denominator (almost the entire "There goes rhymin' Simon" album), others, like these, are so full of subtle imagery that if you asked me the same question about "Sounds.." next week, I'd probably have a different interpretation.

back in the day it was enough just to sound cool. if you had to have a meaning you made up your own.