Thin Lizzy

Sparks 1.m4a

Papa

My toddler self when you passed on
With eccentric stories you live long
Ahead of your time in many fields
From science to rhyme
Captain wisdom wields 

Papa to me and Dad to eight
Some genius genes left chance of great
A light by your side
You grounded sound
Laid film foundation for emerald mound 

A christmas pie to draw the cheers
Any excuse to teach your dears
A technical maestro
Too philosophy wound
The wisest poems
Wore wise you found 

So to the future now you go
Our spirit has you
Net you'd never know
A world wide web
You'd be in your element
A techies dream
It will see your sentiment 

To the future with us
Your spirit is ours
Your love for the universe
The trees
Fleeting flowers 

Good friend forever
Bill of word gauge
Papa of grand
Light of my sage

Good friend forever
Bill of word gauge
Papa of grand
Light of my sage
Good friend forever
Bill of word gauge
Papa of grand
Light of my sage
Light of my sage

To the future with us
Your spirit is ours
Your love for the universe
The trees
Fleeting flowers 
Good friend forever
Bill of word gauge
Papa of grand
Light of my sage
Light of my sage
_________________________

This song is for my Grandad, Bill Stapleton aka Papa. He passed when I was four but between the stories his large family and friends have told about him over the years and the poems he left us, I feel like I know him better then I should. He was way ahead of his time on many fronts. A true genius and taught in ways that encouraged you to discover something for yourself.

Bill was a Captain in the army and also pioneered both the sound recording and film businesses as one of the entrapeneurs that evolved those industries early on in Ireland.

I've done my best to turn his poems into songs to try and give them a more widely embraced media in our modern day.

You can find those here (Some need some TLC)
https://on.soundcloud.com/zIx9iX6rW891uT29AB

This the first time I've tried getting a song done about him. The light by his side in the lyrics is my Nana, Eileen. Eileen means light and Nana taught me some piano early on in my musical journey so I'm always thinking of her when tinkling on the keys. Nana was a fabulous player and an amazing singer too and my Grandparents met when Bill was travelling the country recording trad musicians which was a very unique service back then and possibly the only version of a service like that at the time in Ireland.

The Christmas pie reference is about a pie competition he setup in the family. It initally started around Halloween where Bill would build a pie full of sweets for the kids and a string with each of their names on the end. They would pull and the pie would open with surprises and whatever trick he had built in. This evolved into a Christmas tradition with a trophy where each family would make a pie and the winner would hold the pie trophy until the next year.

Bill was a big techie. However he never saw the internet. He would have been in his element with that tool at his disposal and also I'd imagine he would get whatever was possible out of AI if he was alive to witness it's power and potential. It's fascinating to compare the obvious wealth of knowledge he taught himself throughout his life and to us now with so much good information at our disposal. We need to be wise to sift through the bad info pushed upon us by algorithms, however, when we wander our way out of the weeds, we have a gold mine of good stuff right there for free. Papa would have been amazed by that and it's nice to get some of his sentiment recorded here even if it's just a drop or two

Thanks Papa 🤍
_________________________

We can be the rational heart of this universe by projecting our own hearts and minds onto every single element of existence through appreciation and Papa helped me realise that for myself. I don't worship him for it but it's a really nice leveler for me to realise personally

Written 27/12/25

Dublin

Thin Lizzy

Related tracks