what is the name of the record that featured an older voice speaking
proverbial sayings over music?

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 02 Sep 2003 11:49 PDT

Holguinero --

The description is rather vague but it sounds like Les Crane's
recording of "Desiderata," which is out of circulation in the U.S. but
still available:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000DB2L/102-2135250-6754540?v=glance&st=*

Here's another description, along with the history:
http://www.richieunterberger.com/crane.html

If we've found it, I'd be glad to post it as answer.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 02 Sep 2003 12:42 PDT

I am almost sure I have the answer - a "song"-speech called "Everybody
Free (to wea Sunscreen)", produced by Buzz Luhrmann. In this song, an
older person (Actor Lee Perry) "lectures" to young people on "life",
so to speak. It begins with this line: "Ladies and gentlemen of the
class of '97: Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for
the future, sunscreen would be it.". The music is soft, "chill out"
electronic music.

If this is the song you were looking for, I could give you full
details.

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Clarification of Question by holguinero-ga on 02 Sep 2003 16:15 PDT

yes, 'everybody free' is what i was looking for. thanks. political
guru if you'll answer it officially, i'll route the credit to you.
thanks.

ominivorous- thanks for your input.

Dear Holguinero, 

The piece you were looking for is called "Everybody Free (to wear
Sunscreen)", produced by Baz Luhrmann.

This song has a very interesting story behind it. In 1998, someone
took a text, written by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich, and
began to use the Internet, to send it, crediting it as a commencement
speech given at MIT by Kurt Vonnegut.

Australian film director Baz Luhrmann, who read the "speech" (which
was not really a speech...) online, took Australian actor Lee Perry
(though he sounds American, he's not), and recorded it on a remix of
Rozalla's 1992 dance hit "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)."

In other words, it might have been the first piece born because of the
Internet and its ability to create spoofs and urban legends.

The piece became an immense hit, and satires also appeared, like John
Safran's "Not The Sunscreen Song" (You could find the text here:
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~songhurs/sunscree.htm ).


Full text of the piece: 
"Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen song lyrics Mary Schmich"
http://supak.com/sunscreen.htm

You could see the LP "Something for Everybpody" at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000634X/104-7214113-4331106

The official Baz Luhrmann site
<http://www.hollywoodandvine.com/bazluhrmann/> holds a contest of
spoof parodies on the song, as well as a contest to get Perry to read
a speech in your own graduation.

A very comprehensive sunscreen site is Sunscreen Songs (or
``Everyone's Free to Plunder and Parody'')
<http://www.stanford.edu/~calbear/sunscreen.html>, by Michael Baer.

Search strategy: I also liked the song. I might be getting older by
the second, but I still have some fragments of memory left. Later, I
searched Google:
[everybody's free to wear sunscreen]
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=everybody%27s+free+to+wear+sunscreen>.

I think this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
further clarifications before you rate/tip this answer.

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Request for Answer Clarification by holguinero-ga on 03 Sep 2003 07:18 PDT

has there been a sequel or any copy cats of the same nature (not
parodies, but useful proverbs)?

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Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 03 Sep 2003 07:47 PDT

Dear Holguinero,  
 
No, I'm sorry, despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to locate
"serious" spoken word versions inspired by this piece - only spoofs
and parodies.

However, I'll continue to ask around and will update you if someone
knows something.

thanks.

Dear holguinero, 

Thank you for your rating and for the kind tip!  :-)