Songfacts®:

• A track from Everclear's ninth album, "Simple and Plain" finds lead singer Art Alexakis singing about his constant companion in life: emotional pain.
  
  His trouble started when his parents split up and his father became abusive. A age seven, he moved with his mother to a housing project in Los Angeles where he was tormented by other kids - usually older ones.
  
  This pain led to anger and addiction, and by 13 Alexakis was a heroin user. The pain also made him very assertive, since the only way he could deal with it was to stand up for himself. In this regard, it was a positive and something that led to his success with Everclear. In our interview with Alexakis, he explained: "I never made music for anyone but me, which is admirable in some ways and kind of pathetic in some ways. I work within the confines of whatever band I've got around me, but at the same time, I do what I want to do."
• Dealing with the darkside is a theme of the Black Is The New Black album. As heard in this song, the dark times are often what bring out the best in us later in life, provided we can deal with them. Art Alexakis was in a good place at the time, which he says gave him the fortitude to step into the shadows on these songs.