"I Don't Want You to Go" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by Canadian country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson

Carolyn Dawn Johnson

Carolyn Dawn Johnson is a Canadian Juno Award winning country music singer-songwriter. Johnson first rose to fame by co-writing Chely Wright's 1999 Number One single, "Single White Female," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in September 1999...

. It is the third single from her second album Dress Rehearsal. The song was also her fifth entry on two U.S. singles charts, peaking at number 13 on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) and number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

. It was written by Johnson with Troy Verges

Troy Verges

Troy Verges is an American country music songwriter. His credits include the singles "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews, "Blessed" by Martina McBride and "Wasted", all of which went to number one on the country music charts...

 and Aimee Mayo

Aimee Mayo

Aimee Mayo is an American songwriter, primarily known for writing country hits for artists such as Lonestar, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Kellie Pickler. Mayo owns her own publishing company, Little Blue Typewriter Music.-Biography:Aimee Mayo grew up in Gadsden, Alabama...

.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the production has an "earthy, organic feel, infused with dobro, mandolin and some tasty guitar work." She calls Johnson's voice "effervescent" and "full of passion and verve."

Chart positions

"Simple Life" debuted at #55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of November 29, 2003.

Chart (2003-2004)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	13
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	73