This year (2024) marks the 25-year anniversary of the Sunscreen Song, the popular hit song from the 1999 album Something for Everybody, where Australia’s most in-demand voice artist, Lee Perry was asked to voice the lyrics of this great classic. To everybody’s surprise, it reached number one in several countries around the world – and was the number one requested song in America. Lee performed the song live on the Jay Leno show, the View in New York, a live concert in Chicago, and also went on to perform it in Canada.
Rebecca Levingston from ABC Brisbane spoke with Lee about the song, the brief, and the way he delivered the words in a way that moved people. The Sunscreen Song is a piece of nostalgic proof that a human voice can reach deep inside us and create a huge impact across nations and generations. The Sunscreen song has stood the test of time – and perhaps now more than ever, calmingly resonates even more in a world that is infinitely more complex and troubled, helping to refocus our attention on what’s really important in our lives, especially for the youth of today.
Listen to the full ABC interview below:
The Sunscreen Song has Something for Everybody, even today.
“No one predicted it would blow up – no one. It surprised everyone. It was just something eclectic and very creative, which Baz is renowned for – we had informally recorded it at the House of Iona, which is where Baz used to have his offices in Darlinghurst. And it just struck a chord with people. I started getting phone calls from people who had heard the song, and they’d pulled over on the side of the road because it emotionally moved them. Everyone took something from the song. There’s a line in there that’s relevant to our own lives, in some meaningful way.
The world is quite troubled, compared to when we were carefree back in those days. There’s more depression now. There’s anxiety now. Social media has added to that – or caused that, even. That’s why I think the song’s more relevant now than it was possibly back then. Now more than ever, the words in the song tend to re-center you in terms of what’s important in life; what’s of true value.”
From the galahs of Bob Hawke, to the penguins of Robin Williams, and the elephants of Steve Irwin
“I think my first voiceover job was a parrot or a cockatoo…I think it was for a political campaign that was parroting Bob Hawke. I had to be a galah.
It’s been mainly advertising work since then, but you might know me as Louie the Fly, or the Sportsbet guy currently, or from a Nescafé ad. The fun stuff is working on Happy Feet 1 and 2, with George Miller. I got to work with Robin Williams, Elijah Wood, Sofía Vergara. All the microphones were set up in a circle, and whoever’s scene it was would step up to the plate. We were all in there together with Robin Williams – it was just surreal. I was talking to Robin Williams! I was just looking at him going, “Oh my God…you are Robin Williams. And I’m talking to him. But I better pay attention because I just can’t get over the fact that I’m talking to Robin Williams.”
But one of the funnest days was when I had to be an elephant seer, with Steve Irwin. I remember when Steve came in – we were doing the scene and he was staggering up to the mic with an imaginary VB in his hand to get into character. That was so much fun. He was in a lather of sweat within about five minutes. He was just putting so much into it. Sadly, two weeks later, he passed away. I was absolutely devastated to learn that news as we all were. But that was a very fun day.”
Collecting voices like Alex Perry collects sunglasses.
“When I was about 9 or 10, my cousin gave me a gift. It was a little portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. I heard my voice back for the first time…and I just cringed, I didn’t like the sound of my own voice. A lot of us don’t like the sound of our own voices when we hear them the first time.
So I just started changing my voice and liking what I heard back, when I was just sounding different, or like somebody else. And I was a bit of a sponge as a kid. I’d watch television incessantly, and by osmosis, all these different accents and voices were coming into my head. I’d have an almost photographic memory, but for what I was hearing.
I remember this funny story when we were younger, where I’d go to a party or a wedding with my brother, Alex Perry, who’s a fashion designer now. Alex would always remember someone if you describe what they were wearing. “Do you remember Jenny?”, “Is she the one with a red spotted dress?”, “Yeah, that’s the one.” He’d remember them by what they wore, and I’d remember people by how they sounded. We were both hoovering up different kinds of information.
When I went to school, if a kid had a lisp or a funny accent, I’d go, “Wow, look at what he’s doing with his S’s!” I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. At my high school – South Sydney Boys High – we had multicultural teachers – two Indian Maths teachers, an American history teacher, a Hungarian maths teacher later. I didn’t do too well in Maths..quite often I missed their lesson, but I never missed the vocal lesson – I was more fixated with how they were speaking, rather than necessarily what they were saying.”
Featuring on film: Bullet Farmer, Mad Max Furiosa.
“Yeah. I did a lot of vocal work for George Miller on Fury Road, and one of my very dear friends, Richard Carter, who’s no longer with us sadly, was the bullet farmer in Mad Max Fury Road, and he passed away. And George asked me whether I’d like to be the bullet farmer in Furiosa, which I accepted, of course. And I basically just try to honour Richard by trying to channel his essence in that role. That was my first time in front of a camera on a film. And that was a lot of fun. And I want to… Hopefully, I can do some more of that.”
