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Lyrics to My Favorite Self-Help Song

Posted on January 27, 2007
Filed Under Self-Help Tools |

Coccinellidae II - Mariquita in the beach
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Lyrics to My Favorite Self-Help Song: Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen)

I love this song so much, I must have listened to it a thousand times. A cautionary note for impressionable minds: be careful of self-fulfilling prophecies, because if you believe some of what is said here, like everything else in life, you might just invite something you did not want into your life. Still the advice is solid and everyone is free to wear sunscreen. :) He also gives a disclaimer at the end of the song, which I absolutely love. The lyrics are just as much fun to read. Please without further ado I present: Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen) by Quindon Tarver or Baz Luhrmann Lyrics depending of the CD you get…

The Sunscreen Song – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ‘99, Wear Sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen.”

Baz Luhrmann Lyrics – Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (the movie) and music from the House of Iona, Something For Everybody

Comments

6 Responses to “Lyrics to My Favorite Self-Help Song”

  1. Ken on January 27th, 2007 8:21 pm

    I love this song, I have been looking for it for years now, thank you, I am so off to itunes.

  2. Sarah on January 27th, 2007 8:22 pm

    Great lyrics will be checking out the song.

  3. Cory on January 28th, 2007 3:59 pm

    Good one Tabs.

  4. Ren on February 19th, 2007 12:44 am

    Love this song, thanks.

  5. irish on May 12th, 2008 3:01 pm

    omg i have been searching for so long for the proper name of the song made my birthday :)

  6. Tabs on May 13th, 2008 9:10 pm

    Irish,

    I have loved this song for years, I am glad it made your birthday. Happy Birthday…

    Tabs

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