Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

The Story

The true story behind one of the greatest songs ever recorded. In 1961, Columbia University student Sandy Greenberg — a poor kid from Buffalo with a bright future — lost his sight to a misdiagnosed illness at just nineteen. Devastated, he dropped out and nearly gave up. But his roommate wouldn't let him. That roommate was Art Garfunkel — yes, one half of Simon & Garfunkel — who nicknamed himself "Darkness," read Sandy his textbooks, walked him to class, and refused to let his best friend disappear. Sandy came back. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia, earned a PhD from Harvard, and went on to become an inventor, entrepreneur, presidential adviser, and philanthropist who has devoted his life to ending blindness. Art went on to music history with Paul Simon — a career Sandy helped launch, once sending Art the $400 that was nearly all he had to chase the dream. More than sixty years later, they're still best friends. It's a true story about friendship, sacrifice, and finding the light.