Somehow, just, somehow, Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” and Scorpions “Always Somewhere” is the same song with different lyrics. I think Skynyrd came first.
What’s the straight dope?
Bump.
What nobody knows what the story behind the songs being the same is?
Last bump.
I refuse to believe nobody knows anything about this.
When I first saw this I thought you were nuts. So, I listened to them. Damn, they are the same! Even more than “LaBamba” is “Twist And Shout” (maybe even more than “Ice, Ice Baby is Under Pressure”). 
“Always Somewhere” was released (c)1979 on Lovedrive written by Meine/Schecter.
“Simple Man” was (c) 1973 on **Pronounced… ** by Rossington/VanZant.
Whether or not it’s a deliberate steal, I’ve never heard, but damn, that’s the same intro. (Well, pretty close, anyway.)
Well, they have the same chord progression, C, G, A (at least according to the tabs I googled).Of coarse ther are about 9 billion other songs that have the same progression.
I doubt it is a rip off. I’ve write a lot of music. I also, inadvertently, steal alot of songs*. Well, that is until someone points out that he new riff I wrote sounds a whole lot like another song.
Slee
*Once, while really depressed because my girlfriend dumped me, I wrote a really sad sounding piece. I really liked it. I played it for my friend Bryan. Bryan listened to the piece and when I was done his only comment was “Dude, that’s the theme to the Incredible Hulk”. Damned if he wasn’t right, it was the theme to the tv show, just a little slower and filled out a bit. I still like the piece, nice sad sounding thing.