'Wear sunscreen’ and other good advice for grads

Every once in a while, I’ll turn on the radio and hear my senior class song, “One” by U2.

Just the other day, I sang along. “One love, one life … We’re one but we’re not the same, we get to carry each other, carry each other.”

It takes me back, way back, to 13 years ago when I was a senior at Pace High School and preparing for graduation with that “can’t hardly wait” feeling as commencement approached.

Certainly many of the students featured in this section can relate. With graduation plans in place and college prospects on the horizon, their journey is just beginning and the soundtrack for this lifelong road trip begins with their class song.

I remember other classes and their songs, each chosen for their lyrics or message that seemed to sum up the excitement, nostalgia, emotion of it all.

There are class songs and there are classic songs. Each offers its own wisdom, if you listen closely.

About.com, a pop culture resource on the Web, lists the “most popular graduation songs” for the Class of 2007. They include Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten,” Nickelback’s “Photograph,” Sarah MacLachlan’s “I will remember you” and Queen’s “We are the Champions.”

A song that hit in 1999 was quickly adopted by most senior classes. “Friends Forever” by a band called Vitamin C was written for this occasion with a chorus that sings: “As we go on, we remember, all the times we had together. And as our lives change, from whatever, we will still be, friends forever.”

But it’s another 1999 release that comes to mind when I think of graduation, graduation songs and the staple graduation gift: good advice — about life and the future, family, friends, love and loss. It all applies.

It’s Baz Luhrman’s “Everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen).” The lyrics are spoken by the artist over a beat track and are part commencement address, part Hallmark card inscription and some sage wisdom thrown in with a pop rhythm. This song says what I struggle to say any better.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Class of '99," it begins, "wear sunscreen."

"If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it."

“Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.”

“Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you wanna 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.”

“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.”

Rachel Benavidez is editor of The Brownsville Herald. She can be reached at (956) 982-6610 or via e-mail at rbenavidez@brownsvilleherald.com.