"Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", commonly known by the title "Wear Sunscreen", [1] is an essay written as a hypothetical commencement speech by columnist Mary Schmich, originally published in June 1997 in the Chicago Tribune . [2] The essay, giving various pieces of advice on how to live a happier life and avoid common frustrations, spread massively via viral email, is often erroneously described as a commencement speech given by author Kurt Vonnegut at MIT. [3]
The essay became the basis for a successful spoken word song released in 1997 by Baz Luhrmann, "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", also known as "The Sunscreen Song". [4] [3] The song reached number one in Ireland and the United Kingdom and inspired numerous parodies.
Mary Schmich's column "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" was published in the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997. [5] In the column's introduction Schmich presents the essay as the commencement speech she would give if she were asked to give one. [3]
In the speech she insistently recommends the wearing of sunscreen, and dispenses other advice and warnings which are intended to help people live a happier life and avoid common frustrations. She later explained that the inspiration came from seeing a young woman sunbathing, and hoping that she was wearing sunscreen, unlike Schmich herself at that age. [6]
The essay soon became the subject of an urban legend which claimed it was an MIT commencement speech given by author Kurt Vonnegut. [3] In reality, MIT's commencement speaker in 1997 was Kofi Annan and Vonnegut had never been a commencement speaker there. [7] Despite a follow-up article by Schmich on August 3, 1997, [8] the story became so widespread that Vonnegut's lawyer began receiving requests to reprint the speech. [7] Vonnegut commented that he would have been proud had the words been his. [7]
Schmich published a short gift book adaptation of the essay, Wear Sunscreen: A Primer for Real Life, in 1998. A tenth anniversary edition was published in 2008. [9]
"Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" | |
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Single by Baz Luhrmann | |
from the album Something for Everybody | |
B-side | "Love Is in the Air" |
Released | 1997 |
Genre | Spoken word |
Length |
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Label | |
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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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)". Also known as "The Sunscreen Song", [4] it samples Luhrmann's remixed version of the song "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" by Rozalla, and opens with the words, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of '99" (instead of "'97", as in the original column). 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. [3] [10] [11] The backing is the choral version of "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)", a 1991 song by Rozalla, used in Luhrmann's film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet . The chorus, also from "Everybody's Free", is sung by Quindon Tarver.
Luhrmann explained 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" authorship controversy and discovered that Schmich was the actual author. They emailed her and, with her permission, recorded the song the next day. [12]
Originally released in the album Something for Everybody (1997), "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" gained popularity in 1998 in some areas of the US, when a Portland radio station started to air it. [13] The single came out in 1999. [14]
"Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" was released as a single in some territories in 1997, with the speech (including its opening words, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of '97") completely intact.[ citation needed ] This version appeared in the Triple J Hottest 100 of that year at number 16 in the countdown, and was released on the subsequent CD in early 1998. [15] A limited-edition CD single was issued in the United States on February 9, 1999, but only in the Pacific Northwest region. [16] In the United Kingdom, the song was released on May 31, 1999. [17]
There are four versions of the song: the original 7:09 minute mix from the album Baz Luhrmann Presents: Something for Everybody; a 1999 single release which features a 5:05 minute 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 minute 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".
The song also appeared in Germany and was soon followed by a German version with the title "Sonnencreme". [18] The German translation is narrated by the German actor Dieter Brandecker. [19] A Brazilian version, entitled "Filtro Solar", is narrated in Portuguese by journalist and TV presenter Pedro Bial and was released in the last 2003 edition of the program Fantástico , on Rede Globo. This version became a radio success in 2004. [20] A Russian adaptation of the song, recorded live by Silver Rain Radio, was performed by Alex Dubas and Yolka. [21] An Israeli adaptation of the song, named "Matters One Should Know" (דברים שכדאי לדעת), was recorded and released for the Israeli Children's channel in 2004 by Avri Gilad, Rinat Gabay and MC Shiri. [22] Other versions include a Finnish version titled "Aurinkovoiteella onneen", performed by Erkki Saarela, and a Belgian version called "Beslis zelf maar (of je zonnemelk gebruikt)", performed by Frank Aendenboom. [23] [24]
Daily Record wrote, "Luhrmann's single is the biggest spoken-word hit since JJ Barrie topped the charts with 'No Charge' in 1976. The lyrics began life as a newspaper article." [25] James Oldham from NME commented, "Unless you have been holidaying on Jupiter for the last two months, this remarkable and potentially nauseating record will have burrowed its way into your deep subconscious by now." He added, "Luhrmann's postmodern masterpiece is half pisstake, half soul-soothing brain massage and all genius; a DIY pop landmark for the end of the self-help decade. Buy this record. Twenty years from now, in ways you can't even begin to imagine today, you will be glad you did." [26]
The song was a top-10 hit across Europe but was largely obscure in the US until Aaron Scofield, a producer in Phoenix, edited the original 12-inch version into a segment of a syndicated radio show called Modern Mix. This show played on 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 program directors that he networked with and the song exploded in the US. [27] The song reached number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay in the United States; by the time it was released as a commercial single in the country, radio airplay had declined significantly, and only managed to peak at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada the song peaked at number 11 on the RPM Top Singles chart and topped the RPM Adult Contemporary chart. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Ireland, partly due to a media campaign by Radio One DJ Chris Moyles. On August 10, 2008, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 72.
There are two videos for the song: one which uses the 1999 5:05 minute single edit of the song (the version in which Quindon Tarver is not featured), directed and animated by Bill Barminski; and another using the 7:09 minute edit made by the Brazilian advertising agency DM9DDB. [28] [29]
UK CD and cassette single [30] [31]
European CD single [32]
US CD single [33]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [58] | Platinum | 600,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
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Various | 1997 | — | ||
United States | February 9, 1999 | Limited-edition CD | Capitol | [16] |
United Kingdom | May 31, 1999 |
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| [17] |
The Baz Luhrmann song version inspired numerous parodies. In December 1997, John Safran released a song entitled "Not the Sunscreen Song" which peaked at number 20 in Australia. [59]
American comedian Chris Rock enjoyed great success with his spoken word song "No Sex (In the Champagne Room)" which was in turn parodied on Mad TV as "Ain't No Blacks on the TV Screen" in the style of Rock's stand-up. The song was also parodied in an episode of House of Mouse performed by Jiminy Cricket. 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.
Angelos Epithemiou's live tour included a parody of the song titled "Don't Muck About".
A parody entitled "Mow Against The Grain" appears on the King of the Hill soundtrack album.
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.
Another parody was created in 1999 by London Capital Radio Breakfast Show host Chris Tarrant, who created a version called "wear slippers" which consisted of him reading an alternative version of the sunscreen lyrics and demonstrated his disdain for Baz Luhrmann's version.
In the commencement speech that he gave at his own graduation from UCSF, which went viral on YouTube, Zdoggmd instructed newly minted physicians that they should "wear shoe covers" because the hospital is "a dangerous place for expensive shoes". [60]
In 2016 musician and software developer Dylan Beattie created a parody entitled "Flatscreens" with the original lyrics reworked as advice for a career in software development. [61]
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music, and recording industries, he is regarded by some as a contemporary example of an auteur for his style and deep involvement in the writing, directing, design, and musical components of all his work. He is the most commercially successful Australian director, with four of his films in the top ten highest worldwide grossing Australian films of all time.
Mary Theresa Schmich is an American journalist. She was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune from 1992 to 2021, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Her columns were syndicated nationally by Tribune Content Agency. She wrote the comic strip Brenda Starr, Reporter for the last 28 of its 60 years and she wrote the 1997 column Wear Sunscreen. The line "Do one thing every day that scares you" from the column has frequently been misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.
"The Great Beyond" is a song by American rock band R.E.M., written for the 1999 film Man on the Moon. It was released as a single the same year for support of the film's soundtrack album. On the soundtrack, there is some dialogue from the movie at the end of the track; meanwhile, the single version is a radio edit, with the bridge omitted.
"Crying" is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson for Orbison's third studio album of the same name (1962). Released in 1961, it was a number 2 hit in the US for Orbison and was covered in 1978 by Don McLean, whose version went to number 1 in the UK in 1980.
"Strange Currencies" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. It was included on their ninth studio album, Monster (1994), and was released as the album's fourth single on April 18, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records. The song reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 47 in the United States. Like "Everybody Hurts" on R.E.M.'s previous album, it has a time signature of 6
8. The song's music video was directed by Mark Romanek.
"No Sex (In the Champagne Room)" is a comedic spoken word track released by Chris Rock on his 1999 album, Bigger & Blacker, with a background chorus sung by Gerald Levert. Intended as a parody of Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", Rock gives one-line tidbits of advice purportedly aimed at "the GED class of 1999". In a 2017 interview, Rock said that Levert was in the song because Levert "just happened to be in the studio upstairs".
"Don't Know Why" is a song written and composed by Jesse Harris that originally appeared on his 1999 album, Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos. A cover of the song was the debut single of American singer Norah Jones from her debut studio album, Come Away with Me (2002).
Quindon Dan Tarver was an American singer. He was best known for his covers of Prince's "When Doves Cry" and Rozalla's "Everybody's Free" for the 1996 film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.
"Honey to the Bee" is a song by English singer Billie from her debut studio album, Honey to the B (1998). It was released on 22 March 1999 and debuted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, which became its peak position. It was not a hit in mainland Europe, but it became one of Billie's highest-charting songs in Australia and New Zealand, reaching number six in the former country and number five in the latter. In Australia, it was the 48th-best-selling song of 1999.
"Amazed" is a song by American country music group Lonestar, released on March 22, 1999, to country radio as the second single from their third studio album Lonely Grill (1999). The power ballad is the band's longest-lasting number one single and biggest hit, spending eight weeks at the top of the Billboard country chart. The song was written by Marv Green, Aimee Mayo, and Chris Lindsey. A pop remix of the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts in 2000. The song has sold over 1,650,000 digital copies in the US as of February 2016.
"This Kiss" is a song by American country music singer Faith Hill from her third studio album Faith. It was written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, and produced by Hill and Byron Gallimore. It was released on February 23, 1998, as the album's first single.
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the 1996 film of the same name. The soundtrack contained two separate releases: the first containing popular music from the film and the second containing the score to the film composed by Nellee Hooper, Craig Armstrong and Marius de Vries.
Josh Abrahams is an Australian musician who emerged from the underground dance music scene in the early 1990s. He has performed and recorded under the stage name Puretone, and is also known as The Pagan and Bassliners.
"Vamos a la playa" is a song by French Eurodance group Miranda, released in 1998 as the lead single from their debut studio album, Fiesta (1999). It peaked at number 7 on the Dutch Singles Chart, at number 4 on the Italian Singles Chart and at number 8 on the RPM Dance Chart in Canada. The vocals were performed by La Velle.
"Before" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 22 April 1996 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Bilingual (1996). Upon its release, the single peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, number four in Finland, and number one in Hungary. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
"New York City Boy" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 22 September 1999 as the second single from their seventh studio album, Nightlife (1999). In the UK, the single peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. It also reached the charts in numerous European countries, peaking at number three in Spain, and number four in Finland and Hungary. In the US, the song hit number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and number 53 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart.
"Someday" is a song by American rock band Sugar Ray. First serviced to American radio in June 1999, the song was released on September 7, 1999, as the second US single and third single overall from the band's third album, 14:59 (1999). The song reached number seven on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts, number four on Canada's RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, and number 25 in New Zealand.
"Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" is a song by Zambian-born Zimbabwean singer Rozalla, released in August 1991 by label Pulse-8 as the second single from her second album, Everybody's Free (1992). The song was written by Nigel Swanston and Tim Cox, and produced by Band of Gypsies. It had been a staple in the clubs in Ibiza and Mallorca in the summer of 1991, and hordes of recovering ravers were delighted to find "that tune about being free to feel good and stuff" was available to buy back home. Upon its release, the song reached number two in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, while entering the top 10 in Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the single reached number six, and in Zimbabwe, it peaked at number four. It also topped the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Several music videos have been made to promote the song. It is widely regarded as one of the biggest dance anthems of the 1990s and it has been remixed and re-released several times.
"That Girl" is a song by English reggae singer Maxi Priest featuring Jamaican reggae musician Shaggy. It was released on 10 June 1996 as the first single from Priest's sixth album, Man with the Fun (1996). The song samples the 1962 instrumental "Green Onions" by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. "That Girl" reached the top 20 in at least eight countries, including the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart. It also peaked at No. 3 on the Finnish Singles Chart, No. 4 on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, No. 7 on the Australian Singles Chart and No. 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Not the Sunscreen Song" is a song by Australian personality, John Safran released in December 1997.
March 1, 2008 [...] The 10th anniversary edition of Mary Schmich's timeless advice [...]
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