“Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

"Simple Man" sits on Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1973 debut, (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), and it's a Southern rock hymn with its boots planted in the dirt. Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington wrote it after Van Zant's grandmother, Florence N. Peeples, died in November 1971, and the song plays out as a mother's advice to her child about how to live.

It starts quiet, an arpeggiated electric figure over bass and cymbals, before Bob Burns' drums and Van Zant's voice come in, and the chorus swells with Rossington and Allen Collins circling that same pattern on guitars tuned down a half step. Ed King plays bass, Billy Powell adds keys, and Al Kooper produced. Decades on it ranks as the band's third-biggest digital seller, behind only "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.