F# major · Camelot 2B · 60 BPM
Simple Man
by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- 60
- BPM
- F# major
- Key
- 2B
- Camelot
- 43
- Danceability
- 5
- Acousticness
During the sessions for their debut album in 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded "Simple Man," a song that would go on to become one of the band's most popular recordings. The track opens with an electric arpeggiated chord sequence, accompanied by a bass line and cymbals, before the drums and vocals enter for the verse. All the guitars on the recording were tuned down a half step, which shifted the sound of the opening progression. In the chorus, electric guitars play variations on that arpeggiated intro, and the guitar solo was performed by Gary Rossington.
The lyrics take the form of a mother talking to her child about life. Ronnie Van Zant drew this inspiration from the death of his grandmother, Florence N. Peeples, who passed away in November 1971.
"Simple Man" appeared on the band's debut studio album, released in 1973. After the song became available for digital download, it ranked as Lynyrd Skynyrd's third best-selling digital song, behind only "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird." It had sold 1,333,000 copies in the United States as of November 2013. The arpeggiated opening remains one of the most recognizable intros in the band's catalog.
Simple Man runs at 60 BPM, the tempo of slow ballads, ambient and downtempo. In classical terms it sits in largo territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 4 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 1000 ms. It is in F# major, Camelot 2B, which shares its notes with Eb minor and mixes cleanly with B major and Db major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.