Elson Trinidad (elson@westworld.com)
Mon, 12 Apr 1999 09:56:49 -0700
erik wrote:
> Hey all.. I was driving home last night flipping thru the radio and I heard this great track on a somewhat pop/rock station. It started out with a man offering advice to wear sunscreen. Its some guy giving a graduation speech advising all the young ones on numerous topics. Behind the voice starts a hip hop beat that transcends into somewhat jazzy riffs. Hoping that someone can id this track and offer some direction towards the artist. They got anything else out there that may be worth listening for?
>
It's called "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" by Baz Luhrman. IMHO, it's the quintesential 1990s end-of-the-century track, because 1) It relies heavily on the topic of popular culture 2) It touches on universal sentiments and values and most of all 3) It contains no original material whatsoever.
The "speech" was a piece of work that has been around for a few years, and has been a part of the urban legend scene as a graduation speech credited to Kurt Vonnegut. However, it was actually written originally as a newspaper column by Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich (wonder if she's getting royalty checks).
The music isn't original either, it was the backing track to a song on the recent remake of "William Shakespearse's Romeo and Juliet." and that song is also a cover of a house tune that came out a few years ago - "Everybody's Free" by Rozalla. Some stations play the full version of this tune, which has a female vocalist singing the song after the "trust me on the sunscreen" end of the speech.
What IS original about this tune, well, it's very unconventional for a tune you'd find on the Top40. I think it opens up the market for real "spoken word" material in the next century. I wouldn't be surprised in the next decade we'd all be grooving to songs that are neither sung nor rapped. Just you watch...
>
> On a personal note, I'll be moving to SoCal this summer. I'm heading down to Pasadena to return to school at the Art Center College of Design for Photography.
Drop me a line man, I'll get you acquained with the scene (and get me re-acquainted with the scene, I haven't been out much lately!)
Elson
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