After careful deliberation, I have decided that Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" is actually about nuclear war. A cursory Google-ing of the subject reveals at least (and perhaps, at most) one other person agrees with this analysis.
https://religion101soundofsilenceblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/apocalyptic-attitude-simon-and-garfunkels-hidden-message-of-the-end/I'm not sure if this belongs in the 'good music' thread or the 'human stupidity' thread because each and every analysis apart from the one linked above draw conclusions that are inherently vain (it's about depression, it's about the Vietnam War, it's about ME).
The flash of the neon light is the nuclear war being observed by the narrator. We simultaneously worship the "neon gods" i.e. nuclear power, with said worship only growing stronger in reverence since the song was originally written in 1964.
As the worship worsens and the signs of the prophet on subway walls & tenement halls goes unheeded (the end is nigh), the sound of silence begins to crescendo as global awareness regarding the potential of nuclear war declines. Ultimately the finale is the unleashing of our new Gods upon the entirety (or near-entirety) of the populace.
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
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 dared
Disturb the sound of silence
They are all dead, though with skulls intact (for those not completely incinerated), the talking without speaking and hearing without listening make perfect sense, since the skeletons are indeed stuck in whatever positions they were last active, "talking" or "hearing" but nevertheless removed of the capacity for speaking and listening. And how could the voices share the songs on the parchment when the voices are now gone?
I think it is very bothersome, but also telling, that the actual meaning of the song is almost entirely lost on the entirety of everyone.