diff --git a/client/driver/args/args.go b/client/driver/args/args.go
index 51793bd8b..e40be3f29 100644
--- a/client/driver/args/args.go
+++ b/client/driver/args/args.go
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 package args
 
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"regexp"
-
-	"github.com/mattn/go-shellwords"
-)
+import "regexp"
 
 var (
 	envRe = regexp.MustCompile(`\$({[a-zA-Z0-9_]+}|[a-zA-Z0-9_]+)`)
@@ -13,27 +8,17 @@ var (
 
 // ParseAndReplace takes the user supplied args and a map of environment
 // variables. It replaces any instance of an environment variable in the args
-// with the actual value and does correct splitting of the arg list.
-func ParseAndReplace(args string, env map[string]string) ([]string, error) {
-	// Set up parser.
-	p := shellwords.NewParser()
-	p.ParseEnv = false
-	p.ParseBacktick = false
-
-	parsed, err := p.Parse(args)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Couldn't parse args %v: %v", args, err)
-	}
-
-	replaced := make([]string, len(parsed))
-	for i, arg := range parsed {
+// with the actual value.
+func ParseAndReplace(args []string, env map[string]string) ([]string, error) {
+	replaced := make([]string, len(args))
+	for i, arg := range args {
 		replaced[i] = ReplaceEnv(arg, env)
 	}
 
 	return replaced, nil
 }
 
-// replaceEnv takes an arg and replaces all occurences of environment variables.
+// ReplaceEnv takes an arg and replaces all occurences of environment variables.
 // If the variable is found in the passed map it is replaced, otherwise the
 // original string is returned.
 func ReplaceEnv(arg string, env map[string]string) string {
diff --git a/client/driver/args/args_test.go b/client/driver/args/args_test.go
index 4e1d88b59..e11b2cc8b 100644
--- a/client/driver/args/args_test.go
+++ b/client/driver/args/args_test.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ var (
 )
 
 func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceInvalidEnv(t *testing.T) {
-	input := "invalid $FOO"
+	input := []string{"invalid", "$FOO"}
 	exp := []string{"invalid", "$FOO"}
 	act, err := ParseAndReplace(input, envVars)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceInvalidEnv(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceValidEnv(t *testing.T) {
-	input := fmt.Sprintf("nomad_ip \\\"$%v\\\"!", ipKey)
+	input := []string{"nomad_ip", fmt.Sprintf(`"$%v"!`, ipKey)}
 	exp := []string{"nomad_ip", fmt.Sprintf("\"%s\"!", ipVal)}
 	act, err := ParseAndReplace(input, envVars)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceValidEnv(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceChainedEnv(t *testing.T) {
-	input := fmt.Sprintf("-foo $%s$%s", ipKey, portKey)
+	input := []string{"-foo", fmt.Sprintf("$%s$%s", ipKey, portKey)}
 	exp := []string{"-foo", fmt.Sprintf("%s%s", ipVal, portVal)}
 	act, err := ParseAndReplace(input, envVars)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -58,23 +58,3 @@ func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceChainedEnv(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("ParseAndReplace(%v, %v) returned %#v; want %#v", input, envVars, act, exp)
 	}
 }
-
-func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceInvalidArgEscape(t *testing.T) {
-	input := "-c \"echo \"foo\\\" > bar.txt\""
-	if _, err := ParseAndReplace(input, envVars); err == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("ParseAndReplace(%v, %v) should have failed", input, envVars)
-	}
-}
-
-func TestDriverArgs_ParseAndReplaceValidArgEscape(t *testing.T) {
-	input := "-c \"echo \\\"foo\\\" > bar.txt\""
-	exp := []string{"-c", "echo \"foo\" > bar.txt"}
-	act, err := ParseAndReplace(input, envVars)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse valid input args %v: %v", input, err)
-	}
-
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(act, exp) {
-		t.Fatalf("ParseAndReplace(%v, %v) returned %#v; want %#v", input, envVars, act, exp)
-	}
-}