Songfacts®:

• This is a tribute to Robbie Williams' former girlfriend, the actress Samantha Beckinsale, and her father, the comic actor Richard Beckinsale, who died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 31. Williams said of Richard: "Every time I mention his name to people, there's always a smile. I smile every time I see him on the television."
• Richard Beckinsale was most famous for playing Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge, and Alan Moore in the ITV sitcom Rising Damp. Alongside Samantha Beckinsale, he was also the father of Hollywood actress Kate Beckinsale.
• Life Thru a Lens was Robbie Williams' first solo album after leaving the boy band Take Take. It came out in September 1997, but it wasn't until the release of "Angels" in December that the album started to sell, with the album finally reaching #1 in the UK in April 1998.