Simple Song

words & music by Honeytree (Nancy Henigbaum Miller) • © by Warner Chappell Music, Inc. • Recorded with the author’s permission

I will sing a simple song
the meaning will be clear
and you’ll never have to wonder
when you’re far away from here
just where I am coming from
and where I take my stand
beneath the cross of Jesus
holding to the nail-scarred hand

he rose again
he conquered death forever
when he rose again
I know it won’t be long until we
rise with him
to spend eternal life in paradise

the Bible says it in a simple way
and so do I
our Father up in heaven
sent his only Son to die
so that you and I
could be free from all our sins
take a look at Jesus Christ in faith
eternal life begins

he rose again
he conquered death forever
when he rose again
I know it won’t be long until we
rise with him
to spend eternal life in paradise

this is my simple song
and I know it’s nothing new
but every simple word is true
and this is my simple song

Reviews

I Love This! —Nancy Honeytree Miller

Oh my goodness, you have indeed made this song your own! Such sensitive delivery…….. Thank you for sharing this with us; it touches my heart. —Frances P.

“Here I am” and “Simple Song” have been the bookends of my life. Leaning my head back in the couch I can feel the warm tears roll into my ears along with Nanc’s chuckle. Thanks for the recording. —Murray G.

I remember you singing that song at so many of our concerts. A beautiful arrangement… I teared up reading your notes about this and even more while listening. I love it! Thanks my friend. —Dan L.

special memories of you and Nancy Honeytree indeed….blessings… —Dr. Duane C.

Thank you for sharing that song. I heard it many times in GNC and today when I heard it, it brought back so many memories. It was always one of my favorites. I love the song and love hearing you sing it. Thank you! —Lenore G.

You made my day, Doug! I can still remember you performing this in Green Bay, with the Good News Circle. It knocked me out! I am thrilled that you have recorded it! —Diane S.

Just beautiful and perfect for your voice. Just makes me happy to hear you sing…every single time. —Katie C.

Beautifully done! I can tell it’s from your heart. Peace and all good brother! —Will S.

Although it’s been decades since I last heard it, this song still goes straight to my heart. Thank you for recording it! —John K.

It’s great to hear that old favorite from you, one of my favorites! —John B.

2021 Notes

Returning to our Influencers series, it’s time to highlight someone whose influence stretched beyond song and sympathy, all the way to the spirit. 

Going to college turned out to be a spiritual awakening for me as well as an academic one. I befriended many people of all religious persuasions who challenged and deepened my faith on a regular basis. 

One thing I’ll never forget is those occasions when a bunch of my Christian friends and I would get together at a moment’s notice, pile into a haphazard collection of vehicles, and head down to the Adam’s Apple, a coffee house in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Adam’s Apple played host to many of the best known Jesus Music artists from the early 70s and beyond. One of those artists—who got her start right there at the Adam’s Apple—was Honeytree (aka Nancy Henigbaum Miller), who some have called the First Lady of Jesus Music.

Honeytree’s first album was definitely a stunner for those who didn’t realize that faith could be translated into folk, pop and rock music as well as centuries-old hymns. And that translation spoke in a very powerful way to impressionable college kids: Just her unassuming self, alone with her guitar on the stage, and we were holding our breath as she shared her faith—yes, and also her heart, her feelings—in such simple, down-to-earth, inescapable terms. Just the way you’d expect a modern-day Psalmist to do.

I had already started writing and performing songs when I discovered Honeytree, but the faith, feeling and encouragement that flowed through her music had an important effect on me. Here was someone else already doing what I felt God was calling me to do, too!

After her album, The Way I Feel, came out, I worked up a version of her “Simple Song” to perform in concerts with the Good News Circle, the Jesus band I had joined in 1974. I sang it quite often in those days—in fact, sometimes we’d begin or end our concerts with that song.

It was my privilege to perform with Honeytree a couple of times in the years that followed, and each time I met her, I sensed God’s peace just sort of emanating from her. Once when we were both performing at one of the famous Youth for Christ rallies at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I asked her if she would mind me including “Simple Song” on my part of the program. She graciously gave her permission, and I sang it with my heart in my throat. Afterward, just before she was about to start her set, we found ourselves backstage together. She leaned over to me and said:

“You know, sometimes people perform your song and you wish they hadn’t. And then other times, you feel like it was written especially for them. That’s the way I feel about you and ‘Simple Song.’” 

As you can imagine, that was a moment I will never forget. Since that night, I’ve always hoped I could record it someday.

Thank you, Honeytree, for the love, the honesty, the peace you poured into your music, and into all of us eager listeners who needed to experience God’s love in a new way. Although this 2021 version isn’t as youthful as it would have sounded back then, I pray the meaning will still be clear: the Word of Love that never grows old—those simple words that are just as true as ever.

Music Notes

Honeytree’s original version included only one chorus, but I always included two, one after each verse. To me, it is just so strong it demands to be repeated!

The photo was taken by Mike Kuzma (my producer at the time) at a concert in Wichita, KS. He took a few shots from behind while I was on the bench. Mike has many talents, photography among them, and I’m thankful. Since I’ve always been camera shy, the pictures he coaxed out of me are the best ones—and just about the only ones—I have to use now. Thanks, Mike! It was fun, in spite of my protests to the contrary.