So the other day I was goofing around on Facebook and heard Shinedown's cover of Simple Man originally done by by Lynyrd Skynyrd. A great cover by one of rock's great new voices in my opinion. So, me being me, I went on YouTube and did the comparison to the original. Well, after a few more clicks of the mouse, eventually I found myself listening to Free Bird in its entirety and wondering how I managed to blow yet another half an hour of my life listening to classic southern rock. Well, that stuff happens.
My somewhat random trek into YouTube library of southern rock got me to thinking about the dichotomy between those two songs. One one hand, you have Free Bird. A classic anthem, if you will, that became even more poignant when Skynyrd's lead singer died in a tragic plane crash. What I wondered after all this is which song I really liked better. Sure, I'm fans of both, but if I had to pick one, which would it be? Music and song writing aside, for me, it came down to my connection to the title. Am I a Free Bird or a Simple Man? I'm definitely a Simple Man.
After thinking about that for another 10 minutes, it also occurred to me that most people are either Free Birds or Simple Men/Women. When you ask someone which they think they are, of course they'd want to think they're carefree, fun-loving Free Birds, but when all is said and done, how many of us really are? I mean, really. Naw, we're Simple Men/Women. I could count on one hand the number of people I've met in my life who are truly Free Birds. Yep, we're all just simpletons choosing to live the simple life in our simple cars and simple homes, raising our simple 2.5 kids on a simple salary. And that's perfectly ok with me.
But wouldn't it be nice to be a Free Bird? Oh, to dream!
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