Simple Man is the second album by German countertenor Klaus Nomi, released on 23 November 1982 by RCA. It was also the last album of original material to be released during Nomi's lifetime. The album consists of a mix of opera and pop music, songs by Renaissance composer John Dowland and excerpts from Baroque composer Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas juxtaposed with "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz and Marlene Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again". Songs and musical style Simple Man takes inspiration from a variety of musical genres. Art rock, new wave and disco are combined with Klaus Nomi's love for classical opera, and glazed up with early 1980s synth-oriented pop music. The pop rock tracks "After the Fall" and "Simple Man" are written by Kristian Hoffman, who also contributed songs to Nomi's eponymous debut album. Hoffman had been musical director and keyboard player in Nomi's live band prior to the recording of Nomi's first album. However, disagreements with Nomi's management over song publishing issues had let to the band being discarded in favour of session musicians. "They had to come back and rehire me for the second album," Hoffman said in 2019, "because they did a second album without me and the label rejected it. I'd already had those songs written for him. So it turned out to be really great because those were my favorite recordings of his." The rhythmically tight "ICUROK" ("I see you are OK") is synth-pop disco with shades of Kraftwerk, written by guitarist and Nomi-collaborator George Elliott. He also wrote the music for "Three Wishes," which is much closer to a new wave sound, with its slashing guitar lines and fast tempo. It has lyrics by artist Jamie Dalglish, including a poem from his young niece Sierra. The country-influenced disco track "Rubberband Lazer" features pedal steel guitar, violin and sci-fi lyrics, and is written by former Nomi-collaborators Joey Arias and Anthony Frere. The album also contains disco and synth-pop takes on Doris Troy's 1963 R&B song "Just One Look" and "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (here shortened to "Ding Dong"); and a post-punk-influenced, guitar-oriented version of Marlene Dietrich's Falling in Love Again, originally recorded in 1930. Moving into classical territory, "Wayward Sisters" and "Death" (a.k.a. "Dido's Lament"), both from the opera Dido and Aeneas by Baroque composer Henry Purcell, showcase Nomi's