Hello Darkness My Old Friend I Come to Seek You Ones Again

• Examples
• Origin
• Usage

Memes dictionary

hello darkness, my erstwhile friend

Published March one, 2018

What does hello darkness, my one-time friend mean?

Hullo darkness, my one-time friend is a meme used to humorously express despair or existential angst. It is ofttimes used equally an paradigm caption or as a musical snippet played over a video.

Where does hello darkness, my onetime friend come up from?

Hello darkness, my old friend is the outset line of Simon and Garfunkel's hit 1964 song, "The Sounds of Silence." Paul Simon later described the song'due south melancholy lyrics as stemming from "youthful alienation." A remixed version of the song—the version usually heard on TV, movies, and radio today—rose to the top of the Billboard charts in November 1965.

"The Sounds of Silence" was used throughout the soundtrack of the 1967 flick The Graduate, most notably in the final scene, underpinning the protagonist Ben's (Dustin Hoffman) dull-dawning realization his of emotional emptiness.

In its fourth flavour, the sitcom Arrested Evolution riffed on The Graduate'south utilise of "The Sounds of Silence." On the show, the first line or two of the song, including its signature how-do-you-do darkness, my old friend, oft played every bit the character Gob Bluth (and occasionally characters) faced harrowing realizations or moments of despair. Google search interest for the phrase hello darkness, spiked around the same fourth dimension the get-go of these episodes aired, in May 2013.

In 2014, a YouTube video surfaced dubbing a distraught Brazilian fan at the World Cup with the opening lines of "the Sounds of Silence." Similar videos followed.

In February 2015, users on the online message lath site Reddit founded a community, called r/soundofsilence, to mail those videos. The subreddit'south rules land "Submissions should follow despair of a typical character but displayed in a comical value." There is another, smaller subreddit defended to this theme, r/hellodarkness.

One such video, called "Sorry Affleck," dubbed the showtime verse of "The Sounds of Silence" over a forlorn-looking Ben Affleck, silent in a March 2016 interview, alongside Henry Cavill, co-star of Batman V Superman, which critics panned. Affleck himself responded to the video. Asked in a January 2017 BBC interview if he learned anything from Batman 5 Superman, Affleck said he learned "not to do interviews with Henry Cavill where I don't say annihilation so they can play Simon and Garfunkel tracks over it."

The "Sad Affleck" video, and the subsequent #SadAffleck meme, acquired "The Sounds of Silence" to chart once again. The song reached number vi on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart and number two on the Streaming Rock Songs Chart, owing to five.6 1000000 streams, mostly on YouTube and largely attributed to the "Lamentable Affleck" video.

Effectually the same time, the heavy metal band Disturbed performed a cover of "the Sounds of Silence" on the late-night talk show, Conan. Well-nigh a week afterward, the cover reached the number three spot on the Hot Rock Songs Nautical chart, at the same time that the original was at number six. Paul Simon even reached out to Disturbed singer David Draiman, telling Draiman his operation on Conan was "powerful."

Whether because of Disturbed, Sad Affleck, or both, search interest for hello darkness peaked April 2016.

Examples of hello darkness, my one-time friend

"Hi darkness, my former friend, We'll miss the Champions League again... #LFC"

James Henderson @jayc4life Twitter (Apr 7, 2017)

"Two days later on a intermission up: imma join gym and win at life!!! Five days later: Hello darkness my erstwhile friend..."

Ben Rabinovich @benjyrabs Twitter (Apr 7, 2017)

"'How-do-you-do darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with yous once again.' But not really, yous're merely here to suck the happiness out of my life slowly and painfully. That's right my friends, daylight savings has spiralled the practiced people of America back into the literal Night Ages."

Victoria Parrish, Her Campus (November vii, 2016)

Who uses how-do-you-do darkness, my onetime friend?

Although the lyric is quite melancholy, hello darkness, my old friend is ofttimes used to make melodramatic light of an upsetting simply not tragic state of affairs, like a sports loss or breakdown.

Note

This is not meant to exist a formal definition of hello darkness, my erstwhile friend like nearly terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the cardinal aspects of the meaning and usage of hi darkness, my one-time friend that volition help our users expand their word mastery.

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Source: https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/hello-darkness-my-old-friend/