# The Simple Man is Always Somewhere

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 18, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615 "2005-11-18T06:31:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615/1 "2005-11-18T06:31:48Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615/2 "2005-11-18T18:30:43Z")

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Bump.

What nobody knows what the story behind the songs being the same is?

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**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615/3 "2005-12-16T07:39:34Z")

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Last bump.

I refuse to believe nobody knows anything about this.

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**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615/4 "2005-12-16T08:25:35Z")

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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.)

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**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simple-man-is-always-somewhere/331615/5 "2005-12-16T08:43:59Z")

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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.