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Wear Sunscreen: The Confused History
Like with Desiderata and other solid (as in very good) pieces of writing
there's a bit of confusion or Urban Legend myths surrounding Wear Sunscreen.
Myth#1: It was attributed to a Kurt Vonnegut commencement address speech at MIT in 1997.
Myth#2: Attributed to a commencent speech in 2002
Myth#3: Attributed to a commencement speech in 1994
Facts: The 1997 Commencement Speech for MIT was giving by Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations.
The 1994 Commencement Speech that mentioned Sunscreen in passing was in Georgia State University when Ted Turner (facing a skin cancer operation) told them "The one piece of advice I can give you is put on sunscreen and wear a hat."
The actual writer of the piece is Mary Schmich who writes a column for the Chicago Tribune.
In her June 1st, 1997 column she dedicated her column to the 1997 graduating class.
It seems that attachment of a famous name to a well-written work brings them to the public's attention in a way they could otherwise not have achieved. Or in the case of Desiderata attributing it to a date centuries ago.
In 1998, the text of the Mary Schmich piece was turned into a "spoken voice" recording featuring the voice of Australian actor Lee Perry and accompanied to music in a track Titled "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen," in a CD produced by Baz Luhrman. The song became a cult hit in Australia, and by early 1999 the "song" took sections of America by storm.
