Behind The Song: The Charlie Daniels Band, “Simple Man”

Written by Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels wore his politics and beliefs on his sleeve. During the 1970s and ‘80s, he began expressing his concerns with a more brash, pointed songwriting style. “Simple Man,” the titular cut to the band’s 1989 studio record, highlights frustrations and anger over the political system, particularly in how it deals with drug dealers, pedophiles, and other such ilk.

“I ain’t nothin’ but a simple man / They call me a redneck I reckon that I am,” he opens, situating his humble, modest upbringing right in the middle. “But there’s things going on / That make me mad down to the core.”

Even more, he then describes how even an honest living and steely work ethic is not nearly enough to make ends meet. He turns his gaze to politicians and corporate greed. “I have to work like a dog to make ends meet / There’s crooked politicians and crime in the street,” he declares. “And I’m madder’n hell and I ain’t gonna take it no more.”

“Simple Man” hinges on a straightforward, yet remarkably swampy, instrumentation. Daniels then goes on to describe how such criminals and vagrants should be left to rot in the wilderness, or even lynched for their crimes. It is the kind of song that expresses deep patriotism and marks out particular moral lines, while allowing for a brief moment to unpack the emotional implications.

“If I come across an issue, or something I feel strongly about, and I happen to think of a song that would go in that direction, then I do it,” Daniels once said about the song. “But that’s not what I start out, necessarily, to do.”

Daniels clearly outlines taking murderers, child abusers, and rapists out into the woods to die. During the song’s successful chart run, he began making the media rounds to explain its message and inspiration. He allegedly told reporters that it was simply an outlet of his anger, rather than a direct call for vigilante justice. At the time, he had read a news report about a young girl who was murdered by her step-father, and it set him off into writing the song. 

“I know how I feel about it; I know what I’d like to do. Some of it’s kind of tongue-in-cheek; it’s a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “I don’t really want to take people out and leave them in the swamps. But violent crimes – that’s what that song’s about.”

The chorus then taps into religious faith that stretches across much of middle America. “Well, you know what’s wrong with the world today / People done gone and put their Bibles away,” he laments. “They’re living by the law of the jungle not the law of the land.”

“The good book says it so I know it’s the truth / An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” he then sings, referencing the Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament. “You better watch where you go and remember where you been / That’s the way I see it / I’m a simple man.”

“Simple Man” was released in August 1989 as the album’s lead single. It went on to become a No. 2 hit on the country singles chart. The music video, directed by Larry Boothby, mixes concert footage, sepia-toned snapshots of Daniels strumming his guitar, and other imagery of policemen and various reenacted arrests.