Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen

[IUclover]

So I listened to a podcast about this song and thought the origins were interesting. Essentially, a Chicago Tribune columnist was walking around thinking about what she wanted to write, then eventually wrote the column which are now the lyrics to this song.

Then there was an (early) online prank where people said the lyrics were written by Kurt Vonnegut so people were telling the columnist she plagiarized the lyrics.

Next, Baz Luhrmann (director of Romeo + Juliet) used a beat/melody from that film and added the columnist's words to create the song. There's more to all of these stories in the podcast linked below.

Podcast

Baz Luhrmann’s “Sunscreen Song” — The 90s’ Most Unlikely Hit (with Avery Trufelman) — Switched On Pop

How Baz Luhrmann’s “Everybody’s Free To Wear Sunscreen,” a 7 minute long graduation speech set to downtempo electronic music, became a Billboard hit.

switchedonpop.com

Song

 

[IUclover]

I'll add Baz intentionally found someone who could parody Vonnegut's voice in response to everyone thinking it was him who wrote the words.