Listen & download MP3 Spoof of Yoda’s Everybody’s Free To Wear Sunscreen
June 1, 2007 marks the 10th Anniversary of Mary Schmich essay published in The Chicago Tribune. In her introduction to the column, she described it as the commencement address she would give if she were asked to give one. When the column became the song, her wish came true as at Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing the song Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) is played at every graduation ceremony.
The song features a spoken-word track set over a mellow backing track. Contrary to popular belief the essay is not read by Baz Luhrmann, on the track; it is narrated by Australian voice actor Lee Perry. The chorus is sung by Quindon Tarver.
The song lyrics, which consist of a litany of humorous but practical advice, were drawn word for word from the Schmich column except for a date change from “‘97″ to “‘99″ – although an early version has been found with the original line of “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘97″ still in place.
The song is a remix of “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” performed by Quindon Tarver in Luhrmann’s 1996 film William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. The melody of the backing track can be heard being sung by a choir during the wedding scene. “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” and conseqeuntly “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” seem to be some sort of a cover version of Rozalla’s 1991 hit single “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” as all three songs share the same writers, Tim Cox and Nigel Swanston, published by Peermusic Ltd. I will try to dig up my copies of old AT40 on my archives and will post a link to Rozalla song and Baz Luhrmann song, and see how they would sound side by side.
This year also marks the return of the song with a new 2007 version included in the 10th anniversary soundtrack of Romeo & Juliet.
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- PersianDNA: The video, streaming audio, lyrics, and a parody of the song
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- Parodies
- Piled Higher and Deeper strip The PhD comic strip that parodies “Wear Sunscreen.”
Posted by at40fanforlife 
Posted by at40fanforlife 
Posted by at40fanforlife 
at No. 25 on the U.K. singles chart.Among the contributors to the new album are producer Mike Elizondo, Maroon 5 vocalist Adam Levine (on “Say It Again”), rapper Eve (on “No More What Ifs”) songwriter Danielle Brisebois (“When You Know, You Know”) and producers such as Nate “Danja” Hills (“Not Giving Up”).“A lot of what I wrote about on this album is relationships,” Bedingfield tells Billboard.com. “Having gone away from home for a year-and-a-half and been independent and on the road, I really just value relationships. That gave me a lot of ammo to write with.”The artist describes “Soulmate,” which was written and demoed in a single afternoon, as “probably the most universal song on the album. I tried later to re-record it and sing it again, but nothing was as good as that first day.”Another cut, “Smell the Roses,” dates back to sessions for Bedingfield’s 2004 smash debut, “Unwritten.” She says, “We quit writing it halfway through, because we wanted to write something more upbeat. Two or three years later, we were listening to some stuff, and we realized, this is a gem that we just forgot about.”Bedingfield will hit the road for an extensive tour beginning in September. “I’ve done so much gigging in the past couple of years,” she says. “That has really added a live feel to my music. I’ve got a lot more live instruments and my voice has changed a bit.”
