An Apple Has Fallen: A Tribute to Steve Jobs

I started writing a farewell to Steve Jobs yesterday, but then I couldn’t stop.

Neither could my partner, David. He saw what I wrote, then wanted to make a video to compliment it. So down the rabbit hole we went, taking the day with us.

It was the least I could do for a man who changed my life, and probably yours, too.

Enjoy the video. The full text is included below.

An Apple has fallen and rolled to the ground
In a deafening quiet, heard all the world round
The branches have bounty, still flourishing FULL
But a bit like a lamb freshly sheared from its wool

It’s the core of the Apple, the Steven who said
Think Different! (or else your ideas are dead)
Thomas and Benjamin, Alexander then Steve
You’re gone, but you left us so much to believe

You created computers we could afford
So easy to use, people piled on board
Apple II was amazing, inspired success
The Macintosh followed with fluid finesse

Then right after that, well, who would’a thunk
The Apple’d be booted from the base of the trunk
That mattered not, you knew you’d return
In the meantime you’d let creativity burn

NEXT was incredible, and Pixar STUPENDOUS
Toy Story to Nemo, every one entertained us
The Apple eventually returned to its tree
To make the branches the best they could possibly be

First with the iMac, then OS X
You did it out loud, then you did it again
Two early rolls in a long wave of winning
A remarkable run that was only beginning

From iMac to iPod, from iPhone to Air
No other company could hope to compare

The iPad set forth a revolution that day
With just one more thing to blow us away

With an orchard designed to draw a large crowd
Your tree now sits under a game-changing cloud
It all just works, your words set in stone
Your technology helps people feel less alone

Beyond your hardware, gifts from the tree
Have landscaped my life in a major degree
On the day I turned 30, a new life begun
With so much potential, my old one was done

I opened my present, my future was changed
A gift from my wife left my life rearranged
“Now sky is the limit with Mac in your hand
You are the music, but it is the band”

My wife, she was right, I started that day
To write a new life, got my world to obey
Technology’s great, but I am a writer
And words are what make my universe brighter

You had more than plenty, a life well expressed
Here are a few of your paraphrased best:

Design by committee can lead to an oops
Which is why I always ignore focus groups

You cannot con people, products speak for themselves
And that’s why our Apples line so many shelves

Good artists copy, great artists steal
Picasso said it, but we make it real

Link up your life and make your links last
Dots connect in the future, not in the past

Trust in yourself: karma, destiny, life
Every breath that you draw feeds your body new life

Billions of millions don’t matter to me
It’s being the creator I know I can be

The impossible’s possible behind a great team

No building stands from the brawn of one beam

Don’t let dogma destroy you with other people’s thought
And turn you into someone you’re certainly not

Stay hungry, stay foolish, stay truly unique
Know what you’re doing, look after your speak

You wanted to ding the Universe and did
You’ve influenced me, well, since I was a kid
Taught me to believe in the Infinity of ME
And to rap with the world standing all around me

Thank you for EVERYTHING, your soil is rich
The earth under your tree is a fertilized ditch
Your ideas seemed obvious, once they were said
So elegantly uttered from your intuitive head

The Apple has fallen, but seeds have been planted
You left us a future completely enchanted
Innovator and artist, entrepreneur and brain
You gave us a world with an obvious gain

Thank you for everything, your legacy’s alive
Filled by the decades and fueled by your drive