Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple man - Lyrics Meaning

Released in 1972 Simple man is considered one of the most emotional rock songs made by Skynyrd written by Van Zant that was based on women giving him advice from his past, it was reworked and inspired by the death of Ronnie Van Zant's grandmother and Gary Rossington's mother allowing them to come together and about them with stories they had and created simple man out of it.

Even though the lyrics state, "Sit beside me, my only son," Ronnie was not the only son. He had 2 younger brothers along with one older sister and one younger sister.

The lyrics delves into the past of the singer to his upbringing, a mothers point of view, she begins talking or giving advice to her son from personal experiences and mistakes through life that they have been through and they try to explain to them to "Follow your Heart" and that they can make it through life good if they try, forget egoism, the mother is trying to teach her son he will have troubles fall on him along the way and she just wants her son to be happy by living a content life, to become a "Simple man"