Advice can come from anywhere. When I was about 16 or 17 years old I was sitting in the car park of a particularly junky and disgraceful “restaurant” listening to music with a friend. He played a song that was a little unusual compared to what we might normally select, and it was the first time I heard this marvelous creation; The Sunscreen Song.

The Sunscreen Song had a fruitful life before it became musical; it was first written as an essay by Mary Schmich as a speech, and was published in Chicago’s Tribunal column, before circulating massively via the internet, becoming a viral sensation in the form of an email. The speech became most famed when it was produced by Baz Lurhmann, and released in 1998 as the song, “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”

The song gives inspirational advice on living a good life, as well as coming to terms with aging and an ever-changing world. The speech is so profound, and the advice so relevant to the lives of many, that it becomes a part of a person’s life from the moment they first embrace it.

Like a wise old man speaking directly to your soul, The Sunscreen Song keeps its listeners coming back time after time, eager to check in with the lessons contained within it. The song is like a reference point for life; you check in with the advice and see where you’re at!

Without further ado, because I cannot possibly do it justice anyway, here is The Sunscreen Song: