"I Am a Simple Man" is a song written by

Walt Aldridge James Walton Aldridge Jr. (born November 12, 1955, in Florence, Alabama) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, engineer and record producer. Aldridge is known primarily as a Muscle Shoals songwriter, having had songs recorded by a divers ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Ricky Van Shelton Ricky Van Shelton (born January 12, 1952) is an American retired country music singer. Active between 1986 and 2006, he charted more than 20 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. This figure includes 10 Number One hits: "Somebod ...

. It was released in April 1991 as the first single from his album ''

Backroads A back road is a secondary type of road usually found in rural areas. Safety Back roads are less safe than other roads, boasting much higher fatality rates. A 2015 study by TRIP (a national transportation research group) in the United States ...

''. The song was Ricky Van Shelton's 9th number 1 hit on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

(now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

) chart.

Content

The narrator's spouse/girlfriend confronts him after a long, tiring day at work, wanting to start an argument by telling him he's hard to understand. The narrator doesn't want a fight, and responds by telling her he's not hard to understand at all – so long as he has "a job and a piece of land/three squares hree mealsin my frying pan" he's very easy to please.

Chart performance

"I Am a Simple Man" reached number 1 on the ''

chart and on The Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Country Tracks chart.

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:I Am A Simple Man 1991 singles Ricky Van Shelton songs Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Songs written by Walt Aldridge Song recordings produced by Steve Buckingham (record producer) Columbia Records singles 1990 songs