Classical Composer Reacts to SIMPLE MAN: LYNYRD SKYNYRD and SHINEDOWN | The Daily Doug - Episode 777

#simpleman #lynyrdskynyrd #shinedown
In this edition of #thedailydoug, I'm listening to the classic American rock ballad Simple Man. First, I'll re-familiarize myself with the classic studio version from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then, I'll hear the popular cover by Shinedown for the first time. It's a beautiful song with an even more beautiful message. I hope you enjoy!
Reference Video: • Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simpl...
Reference Video: • Shinedown - Burning Br...
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Thanks to our friend TIM WAURICK for providing the vocals on the Daily Doug Intro and extended Outro: / @timwaurickmusic
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[@waregl72]

Brent Smith is a vocal beast. One of my favorite rock vocalists in the game.

[@jspntr]

who?

[@brianmansell8405]

Lololol... Right? LOLOLOLOL

[@erikmecom4145]

At the time that Shinedown did this song, Their original lead guitarist, Jasin Todd, was dating and then married (2004-2014) Marylyn Van Zandt who was Ronnie Van Zandts daughter. Shinedown gave 51% of all proceeds from sales and streaming of this song to Ronnie's wife Judy. Both bands from Jacksonville , FL.

[@Stagnant_Gravy]

Shinedown is worth some listening. They aren't the most complex band out there, their success mostly reflects that. But they're pretty emotionally charged and about subjects like mental health. Seen them live before, and they're great!

[@Rookinatorrrrrr]

They're a siimple soulful. Not overly complex but very deep. But yes omg I saw them live in Sydney, Australia at Soundwave (2010ish) and they were ALSO just so much fun.

[@ConnieVenable]

Shinedown has the most number one songs ever on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts. I'd say that's pretty successful.

[@stephanieclark9849]

Jasin Todd (guitarist at the time) for Shinedown is married to Melody Van Zant. Melody is the daughter of Ronnie Van Zant (Lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd). There's other connections but this isn't your typical cover just because they really liked the song. It's family representing family.

[@alvindonelson5602]

The amazing twist they put it on this song is priceless.

[@RZK1966]

One of my favorite Skynyrd songs.

[@kamilklimowicz6160]

Rick Beato who is a big KZbinr now produced Shinedown's first album.

[@revwillyg6450]

Yep. I remember Rick talking about that. I think he helped write some songs too

[@AncientGranules]

Yep, me too. I remember Rick taking about it...

[@dust4magnet]

That's my memory, too. He's mentioned Shinedown a lot over the years.

[@TisJustMe...]

Another song for one wanting to hear a different Brent Smith singing experience is Brent with Apocalyptica "Not Strong Enough".

[@TheLocochamber]

SOUND OF MADNESS

[@chelseefulmer3138]

Having seen Shinedown 5 times and Skynyrd twice (albeit... post tragedy, no original members) this is a song that gets me everytime. The second Brent sings the first note, it's an intimate moment with thousands of my closest friends, it's that moment you are reminded of your love for the music

[@clintonstapleton161]

Shinedown is a rabbit hole you must jump into…..

[@Rookinatorrrrrr]

I saw them live in Sydney at Soundwave approx 2010. So much friggin' fun.

[@alvindonelson5602]

Oh thank God you did do this. Going to look up your reaction to Shinedown version. Most amazing cover of any song in all of time.

[@tjultra3985]

Shinedown is my MOST FAVORITE band ever lol. I highly recommend listening to more of Shinedowns songs.

[@L1sten_2_M3TAL]

Wow you reacted to this song! This is one of my favorite rock songs!! I loved this song's lyrics too much, so even I named my own one-man band "Simple Kind"... :) Thank you for your wonderful video!

[@nick7597]

I was at Shinedown’s show in Jacksonville Beach at a small bar (unfortunately closed now) called The Freebird Cafe. Opened by Judy VanZant, widow of Ronnie VanZant. Brent literally pulled a piece of paper from his pocket that had the lyrics for Simple Man written on it and he and his guitar player sung it for the first time! What a treat!

[@lincolnstovall9471]

One of my favorite songs

[@joelwonder5362]

Steve Gaines was a replacement of Ed King...Ronnie said the Steve was the future of the band and Steve wrote and sang on the Street Survivers album...Leon Wilkeson played bass.

[@akashicvizion]

To quote St. John (Lennon), "Life is what happens while you're busy making plans"... [answering your comment at @ 10:45]... Good choice for "Episode 777" -- Lucky all 'round!! The tonal difference between the original & the cover is that the chords played (on guitar) were C, G, A... but Lynyrd tuned to themselves (as was the standard practice of the time) and were a "fret down", which lowered the whole piece a half-step..... with two, and sometimes three, guitars, (not counting bass, which was usually the base on which they depended), "inter-tuning" was the way to go.... Blessed Be, & Peace!! 🙏☮

[@justincaron8428]

The ShineDown cover was originally recorded live in studio during an interview at WAAF in Boston. The radio station released it as part of a collections CD of live in studio recordings. The song was requested so much the band asked to have it released as a single. Then they re recorded it for the album version.

[@LuisGarcia-ee2tr]

IMO Skynyrd´s best song from their best studio album!

[@craigopperman3869]

There is a youtube video of Brent Smith singing this live with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 2022 - Great stuff!!

[@scottmontrose01]

I saw them play at the Mobile Alabama Speedway in 1973 and bought their album on site. Great times.

[@99sheepy]

Shinedown has been going strong for 20+ years, with releases right up to 2022. And, a great band to see live. Lots of songs to choose from; Call Me, Sound of Madness, How Did You Love, Cut the Cord, Monsters, Bully, or the first song I ever heard by them Fly From the Inside.

[@My0wnSavi0r]

One of the best song covers ever and the original is just amazing.

[@richardraybould6928]

Thanks Doug, another great review.

[@marjavanderwiel8329]

I love your videos a lot. I Learn so much more of populair music. And the way you perform is sublime! I love it!!! Rudy from Holland.

[@oldschoolfink3212]

you have to hear Someday, second chance and, shed some light (live from Kansas City) Doug. Those are all must listen songs from Shinedown.

[@cynthiamartinez9669]

Loved this reaction!

[@remy310572]

One of the best ballades ever written…..

[@Terri6868]

Shinedown has a deep catalog. Suggest sound of Madness. They are still going strong. I just subscribed 👍💯🔥

[@cadelk87]

The first time i heard Shinedown cover this was at an ancient dollar movie theater in Batesville Arkansas. It was a Super Bowl party. After the concert we watched the game on that huge screen. It just happened to be the wardrobe malfunction game. So yeah, Janet's bedazzled hoohaw was around ten feet tall

[@thumpermcfar]

Brent Smith quickly became one of my favorite vocalists, not a lot of range, but uses all of it very well!!!

[@MelodyeNovak]

I have loved Shinedown from the first moment I heard them. You have to listen to more❤

[@vlander1992able]

To be satisfied... Yeah sometimes it feels like our whole life, if we aren't aware, we can get stuck in the search for meaning, joy, comfort. To be satisfied, is to be left without wanting, to truly see all that you are blessed with and breath a sigh of relief, instead of chewing your nails at wondering whats just beyond that horizon. Some days it can be hard to just slow down, breath and find that happiness, but it truly comes from within and not from without. I just hope to grow that awareness in my life so I don't catch myself slipping into all the old traps that keep us wanting.

[@wnatim]

Another great original/cover to compare is Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence vs. the cover by Disturbed

[@alyssacrnkovic2691]

I’m a bit late to this reaction, but this version of Shinedown’s Simple Man is my favourite - the remakes they released after just don’t have the same soul to me. HOWEVER here on KZbin there is a series of 5 videos titled “Shinedown in my house”, and it was them performing acoustically at a house party many years ago, and this is one of the 5 songs they did. It is also incredible, especially seeing him with the power he can put out without any amplification. I highly recommend checking those out!

[@revwillyg6450]

Someone in Shinedown back then was married to Ronnie Van Zant's daughter, if I remember correctly. So there was a connection there

[@gregbrown3764]

Jasin Todd was married to Melody van Zant.

[@drewdamon7119]

Highly recommend checking out “Call Me”, “Symptom of Being Human”, “Sound of Madness”, “Get Up”, “Second Chance”, “45”, and “DEVIL”. Shinedown is an absolute powerhouse of a band, and there aren’t many singer better than Brent Smith.

[@NYC.Geezer]

Another fun episode - thank you!

[@kevinmuzerMetalMind64]

Saw Shinedown open up for Van Halen Reunion Tour! Check out .45/Second Chamce by them.

[@GreggoMusicChannel]

We used to play Simple Man all the time. It's one of the simpler songs we played. But there was one night I remember that we got a request to play Simple Man. I don't know if our drummer was just in a bad mood, or if he knew the requestor and was giving them a hard time, but he said, "My drums don't go that slow!" 😀

[@tuckerrogerd]

Holy Christ! That Shinedown cover. Those vocals!

[@MusicTechHelpGuy]

Would love to hear your reaction to "Without You Without Us" by Whitechapel!

[@sean437]

Shinedown's three albums are amazing. I can't speak to their others but those first three have a mix of hard rock and a lot of mellow, heartfelt melodies.

[@biggblueyy]

Both great songs

[@cbrolison]

I'm from south Georgia, has to be Skynyrd for me.

[@tommonk7651]

Right there with ya….

[@heyitsbacon599]

I met Shinedown at a gas station after seeing them in concert. Super chill guys. They were headed to a kegger party in a big pick up truck 😂

[@Dr.Claw_M.A.D.]

Love the music of Lynard Skynrd. Freebird can only be Day on the green. Oakland California.

[@Marloc2420]

You’re going to do many more Shinedown reactions after this song. They’re AMAZING. Brent, imo has one of the best vocals along with Geoff Tate.

[@aquadime333]

That's a great rendition. Allegaeon has a cover of Roundabout that i employ you check out. Blows me away every time i hear it.

[@wesleycolvin7158]

I love both for different reasons, but I understand why people would prefer one over the other.

[@MartinJessop-bi4yt]

You said it Doug, power ballad, sadly i don't think it works acoustically. A thing i like about skynyrd on similar types of songs like freebird and tuesdays gone is the way they build to a crescendo and sadly that is lost on this cover.

[@SanjaSky]

Great song ! Like both versions. Thanks for reaction. Greetings from Serbia.

[@DBH1975]

I love it, thank you. Don't you have Copyright issues posting their music?

[@davesolarz3364]

Objection! Ronnie Van Zant never wanted to be considered a Southern Rock band. He always just considered themselves a rock band.

[@Zero-Fox-Garage]

Love the comparison reaction! I go back and forth on which version I prefer...probably because both are amazing. You should do a back to back comparison of Careless Whisper by George Michael, then the cover of it by Seether.

[@rsc2573]

Missed opportunity... You should have done a Stryper song for episode 777

[@Fordman7575]

They've got a big catalog of great songs for you to check out.

[@Alacarte0421]

See you love the piano/keyboard. Have you ever checked out Ronald Jenkees?

[@jaredsearle4278]

Steve Gains is primarily a guitar player, quite a good one at that .

[@normski0457]

Two great versions of one of my favorite Skynyrd songs. Like you will have to look further into Shinedown.

[@jariel1031]

Shinedown is very cool. Check out Sound of Madness by them.

[@Halmak3]

I prefer Shinedowns version of Simple Man. Beautifully done.

[@scottingram7634]

I was a teenager in Jacksonville in the 70s and was around the Skynyrd phenomenon coming up. I've never heard of Shinedown until today. Their version of Simple Man is nice but it lacks the power and impact of the original. You just can't replicate Ronnie singing that one from the heart. I never knew anyone in the band but I had some indirect connections with some of them. My first job in '73 was at a Red Lobster in Jax and Ronnie's wife, Judy, was a hostess there at the time. Several of the band members lived in that area at the time and would occasionally come into the restaurant to eat. Although it was really dark in the restaurant they would all be wearing shades. All of us kitchen guys would be shoving napkins to the waitresses to get us autographs. Most of the deceased band members are buried in the same cemetery in Jax and if you have a chance look up a picture of Billy Powell's headstone. It's the most unique and beautiful one you'll ever see.

[@danhurley2274]

Wow!!!!! I have always loved the Lynyrd Skynyrd version of Simple Man, one of their best. I had not heard the Shinedown cover before today. That was amazing!!! Thanx so much Doug!

[@rickandgen]

Truly love both versions. As Don Henley once stated about a stripped down version of one of his songs, “sometimes, less is more”

[@ingsve]

What happened to your reaction to Pet Sounds? Did that get copyright claimed?

[@garyphillips1018]

I have been asking for some Shinedown for months, Brent is one of the great powerful vocalist ever and they deserve more attention and they do a lot for mental heath awareness which is a good thing. Second Chance should be your next listen, short song but full of emotion and one of my favourites. Enjoy this rabbit hole as I did after I discovered then while they were supporting Maiden a few years back.

[@shawncullen1688]

Great Song. By the way, what headphones do you use?

[@Marloc2420]

Shinedown was one of the best concerts I’ve seen, and I’ve been to many. Got the audience to actually meet & greet everyone next to you. By the end of the night we were all respecting each others space while in lower level, general admission & Brent called out anyone who was not. He was very observant of what the audience was doing & if he didn’t like it, he would stop the show & call them out. Very personal & I felt like I had 1,000+ friends by me & have never felt so uplifted & good feeling leaving a show. Never have I experienced a band watching out for their fans, ever.

[@aleclobel2953]

your videos are really cool

[@vaheica]

Steve Gaines was the 3rd guitarist and they all shared leads. Should check out Shinedown's rock version.

[@Dagger_323]

Steve was not the original third guitarist. He only played on the band's live album and final studio album pre-crash. The original third guitarist was Ed King, who actually played the bass on this track (as this was before he was the band's third guitarist and was supposed to be Leon Wilkeson's replacement on bass during the recording of the first record. Ed played bass on all but one track on this album. Leon returned shortly after they'd finished cutting the record and returned to bass, while Ed was "fired" and then promptly "rehired" as the third guitar player).

[@vaheica]

​@Dagger_323 round the 10 minutes mark of this video, Doug had Steve was the bassist for the band. I was just correcting the mistake.

[@Dagger_323]

@@vaheica ok, gotcha.

[@gregg6992]

Great song! I much prefer the Lynyrd Skynyrd version.

[@jenniferlucas3540]

The Lynyrd Skynyrd version resonates for me more.

[@rrrttt1112]

Yeah, the Skynyrd version is from the heart, they WROTE it and recorded it. To do so, they defied their producer (who did NOT want that song on their album), and recorded it themselves, but only after they escorted him out of the studio. Without that, there would have never been a recording, and shinedown would have nothing.Skynyrd was so tight, there is no re-recording it to do a better job, it simply cannot be done IMO.

[@555nm6]

yes I agree with you big time

[@JamesDCornette]

At least the cover was good. Real good actually. I've heard so many bad covers, it's good to hear a good one.

[@tuckerrogerd]

I'm a middle ages white dude. I grew up on classic rock and Skynard. I have no idea who the fuck Shinedown is. Never heard of them. But Holy Christ! Those vocals! I know it's sacrilegious and I never thought I'd say this but I'll respectfully disagree

[@jerrylake4619]

Need to do shinedown , somewhere in the stratosphere, acoustic version listen to the whole album

[@TomMotTom]

You should absolutely react to Lynyrd Skynyrd Free bird, quite possibly my favourite song of all time

[@AdamTheEvangelist24]

And you will love the top shelf rock that is Shinedown. They were able to walk that very thin line between metal, grunge and contemporary without selling their souls. Truly a bright spot this century. And btw I was finishing my doctorate and missed them like you did, but great groups can't be hidden or lost. Lolol Here's my Shinedown Set list kzbin.info/aero/PLWc5bGbchZ3W_frA6gS-vbxQkA-2CbuOp&si=g1ss2x8jlwTMyAeT

[@VGKDean]

Steve Gaines was the third lead guitarist. Leon Wilkerson was on bass. Also, Ed King was a guitarist originally from the group Strawberry Alarm Clock.

[@matthewdrake4385]

Gaines was a member of the band later on.

[@VGKDean]

@@matthewdrake4385 Also true. Sometime after Ed King left.

[@tommonk7651]

Ronnie had such a powerful voice…. I quite like Shinedown as well. Smith has a great voice, too. But nothing beats the original.

[@kyleturner1359]

Diamond Eyes. PLEASE!

[@revwillyg6450]

Boom lay! Boom lay! Boom!

[@alisongunther6486]

It’s not ShineDOWN…it’s SHINEdown.

[@stpetie7686]

I just have to love both versions. Both are awesome. And Shinedown had the good taste and sense to keep the things about the song that make it great. Too many covers leave out the things that are great about the original.

[@Josh-nj1gw]

Leave a Whisper was a fantastic album,there's not a bad song on it

[@RickHardcore]

Good reaction as usual!

[@prplgl0bin472]

I genuinely believe you could really enjoy modern content coming out of the thriving Beatbox Community here on KZbin. River and Gene are strong beginnings. Specifically "By Ourselves" and "Metamorphosis"

[@One_Proud_Papa]

For everyone putting down Brent's version, here's one with him singing it with Lynyrd Skynyrd. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGGtq6RnbciKntUsi=qP836FHUOBjjFJb1

[@williamschrom1584]

Love when you play along on your keyboard. Keep it up! 💫

[@catmanduu66]

Great version of the song. Metallica has covered Lynyrd Skynyrd too. They covered Tuesday's Gone very well. It's a live version.

[@matthewdrake4385]

Great cover with a heck of a lineup too.

[@cgiacalone72]

I danced with my mom at my wedding to the Shinedown version. She loves the original Skynard version, but this was one of the first times she'd ever heard the Shinedown cover. She was so happy with the choice we both made.

[@Brandon23294]

Great song. Hey Doug, can you react to the Helldivers 2 soundtrack? Mainly the theme, "A Cup Of Liber-Tea". I think you'll enjoy.

[@scottmcley5111]

Doug if you havent done so yet, you need to dig into the story of the plane crash that killed Ronnie. One of the guys broke a bunch of bones and was thrown clear of the plane, walked until he came to a farm, and was shot by the guy as some bloody guy came limping toward him. What a bad day.

[@ltgray2780]

Dig. Dag. Doug.

[@briansmith9641]

Check out the more rock version trust me

[@vikusen1857]

Please react to The Outlaws - Green gras and high tides. Southern rock and just as a great band as lynyrd. They exchanged players time to time also.

[@matthewdrake4385]

Im glad that you did both versions, and both bands have a connection in that they were formed in the same city- Jacksonville, FL. Skynyrd got their name inspired by a coach who was against guys with long hair named Leonard Skinner. As for Shinedown, i pretty much recommend any song off their first three or four albums. Been around since the early 2000s. If i had to describe their style or sound, id say more post-grunge/ hard rock, though they did have some good ballads. Check out more if you like what you heard.

[@AnthonyKorny-pj4bn]

The Deftones version is also worth a listen

[@Compuman202]

Your right. This is a great cover. Stripped down. Let the voice soar

[@JudgeJaco]

Please do the song Kings of the Nordic Twilight

[@Rookinatorrrrrr]

Kids, remember: don't drive. .. I mean :)

[@marksteinsberger8457]

Great voice.

[@emjay221]

Good evening! I just wanted to stop the video for a second so I could tell you that I really really enjoy your reviews and reactions. You do some research and give us information we wouldn't know other than just some song we heard on the radio when we were younger, I'm referring to Simple Man or whatever the case may be. And you seem like you're just a giant teddy bear kind of guy. So anyway I'm going to go back and finish watching the video now.

[@emjay221]

Also Shinedown is a very good band. Currently the Shinedown singer is opening up a bit, I watched a reaction on their song 45 yesterday. You might like that one