Odd question sort of

[marshall409]

sort of a weird question about this song im working on. the whole thing kinda was inspired by steven kings dreamcatcher which includes a whole ton of references to the phrase "hello darkness my old friend". i knew it was borrowed from somewhere and i knew it was a song most likely and now i remembered its from simon and garfunkel's sound of silence (obvious to some people im sure lol)

anyways, im not really familiar with S&G. i used the phrase hello darkness my old friend in the chorus of my song. its not really the main hook or anything, but do you think its not really right to use it or what? i dont even know if simon and grafunkel got it from somewhere else like a piece of literature or something in which case id probably feel fine with it but what would you think if you heard a completely different song with that line in it? too blatant? or should i feel fine using it.

Adam

[Newbie dude]

As long as it's not the hook,or the basis of the song, I think the allusion to a classic song would actually work out to be really cool.

After all, Incubus has a song called "Wish You Were", and it was very succesful.

[32-20-Blues]

Hey Adam, most of the lyrics in 'Sound of Silence' are borrowed from the novel Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. On that basis, I'd say you can feel free to use the line - Paul Simon can hardly turn around and accuse you of plagiarising. Go for it.

[Reilley]

In my opinion, it's too obvious. It might work well, some people might like it, but I could not bring myself to do such a direct lift. Of course, the context is the big thing. How does it "sound?"

[dementedchord]

if it's not the hook i wouldn't worry about it... and if it is the hook... well if some one calls you on it the phrase is... "it's an hommage...."

[marshall409]

thats what i was thinking. thanks guys.
ill post some lyrics in a few days probably.

Adam

[Valley Arts Kid]

Consider it a tribute. Keep the lyric.