Wear Sunscreen or Sunscreen are the common names of an article titled "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997, but often erroneously attributed to a commencement speech by author Kurt Vonnegut. Both its subject and tone are similar to the 1927 poem "Desiderata". The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", released in 1999, by Baz Luhrmann.
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Mary Schmich's "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young"[1] was published in the Chicago Tribune as a column on June 1, 1997. In her introduction to the column, she described it as the commencement speech she would give if she were asked to give one.
The column soon became the subject of an urban legend, in which it was alleged to be an MIT commencement speech given by author Kurt Vonnegut in that same year (in truth, MIT's commencement speaker that year was Kofi Annan). Despite a follow-up article by Schmich on August 3, 1997, in which she referred to the "lawless swamp of cyberspace" that had made her and Kurt Vonnegut "one", by 1999 the falsely attributed story was widespread.
Schmich's column, in time, was well-received by Vonnegut. He told the New York Times, "What she wrote was funny, wise and charming, so I would have been proud had the words been mine."[2]
Schmich published a short gift book adaption of the essay, Wear Sunscreen: A Primer for Real Life, in 1998. A tenth anniversary edition was published in 2008.
| "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Baz Luhrmann | ||||
| from the album Something for Everybody | ||||
| B-side | "Love Is in the Air" | |||
| Released | March 9, 1999 | |||
| Format | CD | |||
| Genre | Spoken word | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Writer(s) | Mary Schmich, Nigel Swanston, Tim Cox | |||
| Producer | Baz Luhrmann, Josh Abrahams, Nellee Hooper | |||
| Baz Luhrmann singles chronology | ||||
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The essay was used in its entirety by Australian film director Baz Luhrmann on his 1998 album Something for Everybody, as "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)". The song sampled Luhrmann's remixed version of the song "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" by Rozalla. The song opened "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of '99".
The song was subsequently released as a single (with the opening words changed to "Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99").
Luhrmann explains that Anton Monsted, Josh Abrahams and he were working on the remix when Monsted received an email with the supposed Vonnegut speech. They decided to use it but were doubtful of getting through to Vonnegut for permission before their deadline, which was only one or two days away. While searching the internet for contact information they came upon the "Sunscreen Controversy" and discovered that Schmich was the actual author. They emailed her and, with her permission, recorded the song the next day.[3]
The song features a spoken-word track set over a mellow backing track. The "Wear Sunscreen" speech is narrated by Australian voice actor Lee Perry.[4] The backing is the choral version of "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)", a 1991 song by Rozalla, used in the film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. The chorus, also from "Everybody's Free", is sung by Quindon Tarver.
The song was largely obscure until Aaron Scofield, a producer in Phoenix, Arizona, edited the original 12" version into a segment of a syndicated radio show called 'Modern Mix'. This show played many stations in the United States. In Portland, Oregon - where 'Modern Mix' played on KNRK -- listeners began requesting the track. KNRK Program Director Mark Hamilton edited the song for time and began playing it regularly. He distributed the song to other PDs that he networked with and the song exploded in the US.[5]
The song was a worldwide hit, reaching number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and number one in the United Kingdom and Ireland, partly due to a media campaign by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles. It is played during the end credits in John Swanbeck's film The Big Kahuna, starring Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli.
There are four versions of the song: the original 7:09 minutes mix from the album Baz Luhrmann Presents: Something For Everybody; a 1999 single release which features an 5:05 minutes edit that lacks both choruses; "Geographic's Factor 15+ Mix" that runs for 4:42 minutes and a "2007 Mix" of the original 7:09 minutes version released on the 10th Anniversary Edition of the William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet soundtrack on which the opening words are changed to "Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2007".
There are two[6][7] versions on video: one which uses the 1999 single edit of the song with 5:05 minutes, directed and animated by Bill Barminski, which was aired on all major networks in the United States and was featured on The Tonight Show, The Today Show and The View as well as VH1 and MTV, and also appeared in the UK, Australia and Japan; and another one which using the 7:09 minutes song version with chorus in the middle and in the end, made by the Brazilian advertisement agency DM9DDB.
The song also appeared in Germany, and was soon followed by a German version with the title "Sonnencreme".[8] The German translation is narrated by the German actor Dieter Brandecker.[9] There is also a Brazilian version which is narrated in Portuguese by Pedro Bial as well as a Swedish version, narrated by Rikard Wolff. A Russian adaptation of the song, recorded live by Silver Rain Radio, was performed by Alex Dubas and Yolka. [10]
On August 10, 2008, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 72.
The Baz Luhrmann song version inspired numerous parodies. John Safran released a song entitled "Not the Sunscreen Song". The musician and comedian Chris Rock enjoyed great success with his spoken word song "No Sex (In the Champagne Room)." The song was also parodied in an episode of Disney's House of Mouse where Jiminy Cricket performed it. The comedy group Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie also made a parody entitled "The Sunscreen Marketing Board". Jegsy Dodd and the Original Sinners' version, "Grumpy Old Men" was voted favourite track of 2005 by BBC Radio 1 listeners in their annual Festive 50 poll.
The song was also parodied by DJ Chris Tarrant on the London Capital Radio Breakfast Show with a song called "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of '97 - wear slippers"
Hawaiian comedian and observational humourist Frank de Lima recorded Eat Rice which includes island-style advice.
The fictional character Johnson or "Jay" Keane, brother of Irish soccer player Roy, on the radio program Gift Grub on Irish radio station Today FM has also recorded a version. In this version Jay tells us to "Support Munster" — more specifically the Munster rugby team, participants in the 2009 Heineken Cup.
Another parody by comedian Simmi Areff was played on South African radio station East Coast Radio at the conclusion of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
| Preceded by "Candle for Kosovo" by Rain / Various Artists |
Irish Singles Chart number one single June 5, 1999 - June 12, 1999 |
Succeeded by "That Don't Impress Me Much" by Shania Twain |
| Preceded by "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot |
UK Singles Chart number one single June 6, 1999 - June 12, 1999 |
Succeeded by "Bring It All Back" by S Club 7 |