Weekly Shinedown - Song Three - Simple Man - Acoustic!

Hey there!

The third Shinedown song that I discovered was one called Simple Man - Acoustic.

This was the first Shinedown song that I managed to find on my own devices. I also didn't hear it in my Uncle'a car!

So basically around the beginning of June 2014, I decided to finally listen to my Uncle Peter, and actually listen to some more Shinedown songs.

Since I am obsessed with the app Spotify, I searched for Shinedown, and I was greeted with a long list of their songs. I was scrolling down the list, and I noticed that quite a number of their songs were acoustic versions of the original. Now I am a very big fan of acoustic covers, many because they are easier to play on guitar, and even to sing when I'm up for it.

I decided that rather than listening to every single Shinedown song, I would just search "Shinedown Acoustic" and see what comes up. Most of the songs were live acoustic songs, so I decided that rather than listening got all of these, I would just listen to the four most popular songs. And the most popular happened to be Simple Man - Acoustic!

I also listened to the other three Shinedown songs shortly after, but Simple Man was my first. I especially loved the introduction to the song because of the simple guitar plucks, so this was how I became drawn to this song. For most of June and July, I spent most of my time listening to these four songs on repeat, and this was when I was finally really into Shinedown.

However, I did not realise that Simple Man was not actually written; it was a cover by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd until I was at church again one Saturday night in September. Me and some of my church friends (who you've probably heard about loads by now) were having a Nerf war night. After multiple hours of playing game after game, my Uncle Peter decided that he would get out his acoustic guitar. As per usual, he usually loses interest halfway through the night, and gets his guitar out to play. But it's usually his rock guitar that he uses, plugged into an amplifier (which is an absolute pain when you're trying to yell instructions to everyone).

Yet tonight, he had his acoustic guitar out, and he was playing Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which I was vaguely familiar with. Sometime later, whilst I was guarding our base, he started playing Simple Man from the other side of the room. I actually got so excited that he was playing Simple Man. Then he shouted across to me "Do you recognise the song, Lois?" and I nodded. Then he went onto explain about the whole history of the song, and this is how I found out where it originally came from.

I had actually heard the Rock Version of Simple Man around this time, but acoustic was always a personal favourite of mine. I have attempted to play this song on guitar, and since the only chords are C, G and Am, it isn't that difficult. Especially since the A-minor is my favourite chord to play. So hopefully, I should get the hang of the song rhythm soon enough.

Recently, I've had to practise singing with my Uncle Peter, and a guy from our church called Kev so that I can sing in front of the church, which is probably one of the scariest things ever. Whist they were setting up, Peter started to play Simple Man on his guitar because he knew that I know this song really well. He was then singing full-blast into he microphone, and it was so cool. I just wish that I had the confidence to do what he can do.

But here is how my Shinedown journey developed. I would love to hear from you guys in the comments section which Shinedown songs really hooked you into being a massive fan of them.

I'll see you all next Thursday!

Lois xx

P.S. I'll leave the lyrics to Simple Man - Acoustic below incase you're interested!

Well mama told me, when I was young
Said sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this, it'll help you some sunny day

Ahhh
Yeah it will

Or take your time don't live to fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You'll find a woman and you'll find love
And don't forget that there's is a someone up above

Be a simple kind of man
Be a something you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh won't you do this for me son if you can
(if you can)

Forget your lust for the rich man's gold
All that you need now is in your soul
And you can do this(oh baby)if you try
All that I want from you my son is to be satisfied

And be a simple kind of man
Be a something that you love and understand
Baby be a simple kind of man
Oh won't you do this for me son if you can
(if you can)

Oh don't you worry
You'll find yourself
Follow your heart
And nothing else
And you can do this(oh baby)if you try
All that I want from you my son is to be satisfied

And be a simple kind of man
Oh won't you do this for me son if you can
So baby be a simple be a simple man
Oh won't you do this for me son if you can