"Simple Man" is the last track on side one of

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...

's debut album, '' (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)''. The song is one of Lynyrd Skynyrd's most popular songs. Since the song became available for digital download, it has become Lynyrd Skynyrd's third best-selling digital song after "

Sweet Home Alabama "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album ''Second Helping'' (1974). It was written in response to Neil Young's 1970 song "Southern Man", which the band felt blamed the e ...

" and "

Free Bird "Free Bird", also spelled "Freebird", is a song written by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant and performed by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. The song featured on the band's debut album in 1973. Released as a single in November 1974, "Fr ...

." It has sold 1,333,000 copies in the U.S. as of November 2013.

Musical structure

"Simple Man" is written in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

, though all guitars were tuned down a half step, effectively making it G# minor/B. The song begins with an

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

arpeggiated A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

chord sequence In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practic ...

made up of the chords C major, G major and A minor (though with the tuned-down guitars, effective progression of B major, F# major and G# minor). This intro is accompanied by a

bass line Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, dub and electronic, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played (in jazz and some ...

and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

s before the drums and vocals come in for the verse. Lyrically the song is about a mother talking to her child about life, inspired by the passing of Ronnie Van Zant's grandmother. The chorus of the song includes

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s imitating sections of the arpeggiated intro progression. The

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...

is performed by

Gary Rossington Gary Robert Rossington (born December 4, 1951) is an American guitarist. He is the only remaining original member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, in which he plays lead and rhythm guitar. In 2009, he became the last original member to re ...

Personnel

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ronnie Van Zant Ronald Wayne Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American singer, best known as the original lead vocalist, primary lyricist and a founding member of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is the older brother of current ...

– lead vocals *

– lead guitar and guitar solo *

Allen Collins Larkin Allen Collins Jr. (July 19, 1952 – January 23, 1990) was an American guitarist. He was one of the founding members and guitarists of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and co-wrote many of the band's songs with frontman and origina ...

– rhythm and lead guitars *

Ed King Edward Calhoun King (September 14, 1949 – August 22, 2018) was an American musician. He was a guitarist for the psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock and guitarist and bassist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 to 1975 ...

– bass guitar * Bob Burns – drums and percussion *

Billy Powell William Norris Powell (June 3, 1952 – January 28, 2009) was an American musician and keyboardist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 until his death in 2009. Biography Early life Powell was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. He grew u ...

– keyboards

Additional personnel

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

– organ

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1973 songs Lynyrd Skynyrd songs Song recordings produced by Al Kooper Hard rock ballads 1970s ballads Songs written by Ronnie Van Zant Songs written by Gary Rossington Ty Cobb