The "Plenty of Sunscreen" Speech from a Few Years Back?

Factual Questions
1

A few years ago (1997ish???) there was a bit of glurge going around. It was a series of random statements that seemed silly at first but somehow it all amounted to sage advice. At first no one knew who wrote it or for what reason. Eventually, a song came out with someone reading the words over a synth-pop musical score.

I think that at some point the real author was tracked down, and she had written the speech for a commencement address that she had given.

All I really remember about it is that the speech began with the advice to always use plenty of sunscreen.

Anyone remember this? Can I have a link? Some googling brought plenty of hits with genuine skin-care advice.

2

Mary Schimch from the Chicago Tribune wrote the “Sunscreen Speech” you can find a copy of the speech here

3

Specifically, Mary Schmich wrote it as a column printed June 1, 1997 (free registration required), prefaced with the statement

It then took on a life of its own, as detailed (at least in part) on the Snopes site.

4

I’ve posted the snopes link to the article in response to emails that had been sent to my friends and family. A common response by the people who blindly forward this type of glurge was:

“I don’t care WHO wrote it. I just like the sentiment.”
Pisses me off.

5

Wow, thanks everybody. From Ignorance to Ignorance Fought in Six Minutes.

6

But trust me on the Sunscreen…
IIRC I thought it was more towards 1999. Interestingly enough, I was talking to my mom about it one day, and we then walked into a card store. There was a book that had the entire column (Line a page), and an Intro with the entire scandal explained in it.

7

My mp3 of it is Baz Luhrmann-Everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen), if you’re looking for the recording someplace…

8

Wasn’t there an actual song of this at some point? Well, more like spoken word but put to sort of a funky beat?

9

Yes, it’s as Garfeild226 mentioned. It’s on the Baz Luhrman album “Something For Everybody”. It also has songs from other Baz Lurman films like Romeo and Juliet and Strictly Ballroom. I think the song is called “Everyone is free to wear sunscreen”.