“Simple Kind of Life” by No Doubt

"Simple Kind of Life" is the most naked moment on No Doubt's fourth album, Return of Saturn, and in June 2000 it became the record's second single. Gwen Stefani wrote it alone, only the second song she'd managed that way after "Suspension Without Suspense", late one night during a last-minute session after a day of writing with bassist Tony Kanal. Its subject is the tug-of-war between wanting to settle down and have a family and staying committed to the band.

They cut it the following Monday without rehearsing, and Glen Ballard's production keeps that raw edge: Adrian Young's drums are squeezed through lo-fi filters, Gabrial McNair's mellotron sighs in the background, and the whole thing plays like a hushed, homemade power ballad. In America it did better than any other single from the album.

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