Vocals....

Here it is, the official Campfire sing-along track.....

One of my all time favorite groups, one of my all time favorite songs!!

What a great way to start my week, hearing a vocals only version that I've never hear before.

Their music has been on my mind, as it was 10 years ago yesterday when my father passed away and my life as a orphan began. I had done a photo compilation of his life and used a CD entitled " Pickin' On Lynyrd Skynyrd - A Tribute " for the accompanying music.

In case you're not familiar with that CD here is the description on the back cover;

" Pickin' On Lynyrd Skynyrd starts where the original band members left off with the hottest bluegrass and country musicians on 5-string banjo, fiddle, dobro, steel guitar and mandolin playing sizzling versions of their best loved hits in an all instrumental homage......."

Thanks, Birdman, for posting that up........thought I had heard about every variation and version of their work, but I had never heard that lyrics only version of 'simple man' .......loved the picture compilation as it also remained me of the presentation I had put together for my dad!!

Here's to my dad, a simple man, and my grandfather that I never got to meet;





My dad's dad;

Pardon the hijack, but XPLRN, what part of the country are those photos from? Wonderful pictures.

Shinedown does a better job...

Thems fightin' words my friend!!

This song actually changed lifestyles for a lot of people when it came out and for years after.

A guy came pulling into my place one time with a Wagon drawn by a couple Horses and a couple Mules with a couple Goats tied to the back and asked if he could stay long enough to rest his Stock.

Now I don't know anyone who would not allow this just for curiosity reasons alone so of course I was glad to help him out. So he stayed for a couple days resting, watering and grazing his Stock on our place before moving on.

Turns out he Was a "City Guy" who was tired of the Rat Race and decided to buy his current "outfit" and head to New Mexico and live a Self Sustainable lifestyle. After getting to know him and talking for awhile I asked him what made him decide to do this extreme change of lifestyle?

He asked me..."Have you heard that Song Simple Man?".

Birdman is cool, he let me shoot his sweet black powder muzzleloader years ago @ Qumato, shouldn't be a problem with a little hijack'n.

Thanks for the compliment on the pictures!! My grandfather went up to northern Wisconsin back in the late 1800's/ turn of the century as he had heard there was a lot of great deer hunting up there. He knocked around for a while, enjoying the hunting, trapping and lumberjacking lifestyle.......he enjoyed it enough to homestead some property and start a family. We are very fortunate that one of the neighbors of my grand dad was into photography and liked to take pictures. He enjoyed taking pictures of my grand dad and my dad as they went about their farming and timber endeavors.



That's a great story, thanks for sharing, how long ago did that encounter take place?? Makes one wonder how his 'simple man' quest played out!??

This was roughly 20 years ago. We did get a letter from him indicating he made it to New Mexico and had bought his new property. But never heard from him again after that. This was our fault for not keeping in touch as we should have.

But you know what? Now you have me curious and I'm going to see if I can get any keywords to lead me to his possible location and current situation. There just might be some local news archives down there about him and his unique adventure.

Ronnie Van Zant wrote and sang that song. Suggesting someone else did it better is laughable! That's like saying someone else painted a better Mona Lisa than da Vinci, or wrote a better Gettysburg Address than Lincoln. That song was his and anything else is a poor replica.

As a Musician I would tend to agree with you and here is why...You will never get back that "exact" moment in time. The Musicians, The Instruments, The Parties the Night before, The Recording Equipment and Etc. Now It would be next to impossible to reproduce it with the exact same sound.

Which was for it's time actually quite unique and this alone should be respected and appreciated for what it was.

Precisely, so well stated!!

Wasn't meant to put down the original and I listen to both often but have you guys listened to the shinedown version?

Just my opinion and no doubt the original is great.

Well stated Bugout and it lives forever as a classic.

That would certainly be fun to follow up on since you had that great encounter 20 years ago!! If you even have his name and where he bought property that would be a good start.

No disrespect intended here just differing perspectives. Yes I have heard it but something to consider with these songs when they are copied from the original artists is the Cultural influences that went along with the original. The copies just will never have that aspect of the original.

For example let's say that Motley Crue did "Helter Skelter" better than the Beatles did it. For me this would be Dismissing the whole Cultural History that came about because of the original. The Original has so much "color" surrounding it that nothing could ever get close to replacing it.

Every time I hear the Original Visions of Charley and his Crew listening to the same Song at the Same time go through my head because this indeed may have actually happened at the time. You just can't reproduce that exact feeling with a copy.

I guess what I am trying to display is that a copy just doesn't have the History surrounding it like the original and for me these go hand in hand as a listener.

Just checked out the video and realized I had seen it before sometime back. Sure did like the mid sixties Ford 4x4 pickup truck in the video! The guy's got great pipes no doubt about it however it's just too much guttural scream quality to his voice vs. the smooth, soulful and pure feeling Ronnie delivered it with in the original LS......YMMV.

Imitation(covering a original) *is* the most sincere form of flattery!!

PS. Some trivia about the song origin found on the net; Shortly after Ronnie Van Zant's grandmother and Gary Rossington's mother died they got together in Van Zant's apartment and started telling stories about them. Rossington came up with the chord progression and Van Zandt wrote the lyrics based on advice the women had given them over the years they wrote it in about an hour.

I get it but simple man lyrics are so great I'm not sure culturally they can ever fade.

I like the original version. The Shinedown guy tries too hard, trying to show of his voice. Sometimes less is more. Reminds me of black women singers taking one note and warbling all over the damn register with it like it's supposed to impress somebody.

Yeah, I like that version too.

I knew most of the Van Zant family, including the miscreants that became famous, back in the day, in Westside Jax.

There are occasionally covers that upstage the original works. Johnny Cash completely owns the NIN song Hurt after he covered it.

As to Outshine's cover of Simple Man, whether or not it's better is personal preference. They certainly did justice to the song.

I think a lot of people miss the point. The original work, be it a song, a painting, whatever, sets the standard. It came from the artist's heart, mind and talent at the time they created it. Another artist can come along and attempt to put their mark on it, but as I said previously, it's a replica.

While a musician covering another artist's work cannot claim the inspiration and creativity of the original work, they can still produce a very worthwhile version of the song that pays respect to the original artist and can allow the new artist to express their interpretation of the work.

To say only the original has value would mean that it would never be worth watching a singer perform live, as they are just performing a replica of their original song, or as is often the case, a slight variance of the original.

Not bad. Not the original, which I still prefer, but not bad.

I wouldn't argue with that Mr Lott, but I have to admit it's always annoyed me at a concert, when a hit song, the one you came to hear, gets changed by the artist. Oh well...it's their song. They can sing it however they want. My point all along in this conversation was not meant to suggest that someone else couldn't do a good job of covering an original.

Part of the problem is producers can prompt bands to make studio versions of a song in such a way that there is no way the band can perform it live.

That said on the flip side I've seen live versions of songs that upstaged the studio versions.

Upstate NY'er

Shinedown botches the song. "All that want for you my son".... Shinedown mumbles and squawks out "all that i want from"

Fuggin idiots

It makes a difference if youre an unforgiving purist. The only reason they got to cover the joint was because the guitarist from shinedown was shacking up with Melody VZ.

Well I suspect that skynyrd bunch has probably took pot before - I say they deserve a bullet behind the ear !!

Cause I hate dopers ..

I don't know if it was the venue, the night, or Shinedown is really a bunch of talentless hacks who can't get by without the studio's help. But I saw them live right after they released their version of Simple Man, and they were absolutely 100 percent atrocious. If they hadn't been the opening act I would have left after the second "song". And I was looking forward to seeing them after hearing them get lots of airplay on the radio at the time.

BTW Van Halen was Okay as the main event, not the best show ever but pretty good so I don't think the acoustics were that bad in there

VanHalen kicked azz when I saw them in 87 or 88. But from what i've seen on recent youtube clips, I would not want to see them live now.

That kid's got quite the unique voice and persona. I like his cover.......however as mentioned by Slumlord, from a purist standpoint, he didn't do so good on replicating the lyrics.

Of course not, now I'm glad I posted it.

"can allow the new artist to express their interpretation of the work."

As a Professional Musician who used to make a living re-performing hundreds of works by others "interpretations" just rub me the wrong way. A true Musician always respects the original work and Artist by practicing hundreds of hours on a piece in effort to reproduce it as "Exact" as possible to show respect for the original.

Self interpretation and a change of "Flavor" are considered disrespectful to the original Artists creativity and talent. You want the listener to be able to close their eyes and have shivers go down their spine because it is so hard to hear a difference between your rendition and the original.

In fact there are Copyright laws against doing this and rights must be purchased before Hacking one apart with your own "interpretation" whether it "Sounds decent" or not.

I guess it boils down to the difference between an Artist and a Listener when it comes to this issue.

Wife started beating this song into our sons head at about 10 years of age. It appears that he heeded her advice on it.