February 15, 2022 • 32 mins
What happens when Raffi takes a break from making children’s music and rolls out a protest album for adults?
Guests in this episode:
- Dorian Lynskey, author of “33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs”
- Philippe Cousteau, conservationist, filmmaker and co-founder of EarthEco International
- M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In Raffie learned something that shocked him. He'd gotten to
hear talk about beluga whales at the Science Center in Toronto.
Raphie had loved these whales since he first saw one
named Kavana at an aquarium a decade earlier. Kavna inspired
him to write his most famous song, Baby Beluga, Baby
(00:21):
Deep Bluega in the deep Blue Sea swims so wild,
then you swim so keavn. Rafie wrote it at a
time when they Save the Whales movement was just starting.
Baby Luga, Baby Luga is the water. People don't want
(00:44):
to hear anger or sadness or frustration at how things
may have got to They want to hear and they
are inspired by the love in our hearts, especially the
love for our young. And I thought, instead of writing
a lament, I would write a beauty of a love
song for a magnificent creature, the bluga whale. You know
(01:04):
what you love, you care about, and you want to protect.
But at the Science Center, Ralfie learned that beluga whales
were dying at an alarming rate. Their legion covered bodies
were washing up on the shores of the St. Lawrence River,
just two hundred miles from Toronto. Industrial pollution had turned
the whales into hazardous waste sites and left them with cancer.
(01:28):
Ralfie was devastated. If this was happening to the Beluga whales,
the very animal he made famous in his song, what
were all these toxins doing to the children living near
the river. He wasn't sure if he could ever sing
Baby Beluga again. You know, it was one thing to
(01:56):
think about children with love and to sing loving songs
with them and for them. But if the world that
we all live in, if our children's future is compromised
unless we change our ways, well what's the point of
just singing? I said to myself. I mean, songs and
(02:18):
music are great, but they only go so far. You
need to take care of the theater in which we
are singing. If you will right the home theater, Raffie
began to question everything, his identity, his relationships, the world.
(02:39):
I'm Chris Garcia and this is Finding Raffie, a ten
part series from My Heart Radio and Fatherly in partnership
with Rococo Punch, about the life, the philosophy, and the
work of Raffie, the man behind the music. By the
late eighties, Raffie was tired and burnt out. He'd been
(03:02):
touring NonStop. His creativity felt limited, and he was angry
and despairing. He needed a break from playing to young children,
so he made a pretty big decision that stunned everyone
around him. He decided to take a year off, no concerts,
no touring. Instead, Ralphie spent a lot of time learning
(03:23):
about the world, and he found himself reading about one
environmental disaster after another. Acid rain are growing hole in
the ozone layer, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. This
was also when he discovered the radio series It's a
Matter of Survival, which might sound familiar. It was made
(03:43):
by his good friend David Suzuki, and it had a
huge impact on Raffie. It said that unless we as
a species collectively acted in a timely manner to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, we risked they're reaching a point where
(04:03):
the warming is irreversible, and that would be catastrophic. So
when I heard the word irreversible, I had a major
meltdown within myself because that's the appropriate response. Actually, I mean,
that's major fear. Oh my god, it would get so
(04:24):
bad that we couldn't do anything about it. That ought
to scare you to the core, and it did me. Meanwhile,
Raffie and his wife deb split up. He moved out
of the house they shared and found a bachelor pad,
and he returned to an earlier hobby of his painting.
In his autobiography, Raffi wrote that he filled the walls
(04:45):
with his own art, oil pastels of abstract images and
female nudes. He was kind of spreading his wings. Well.
There was a year of introspection and a year of
a year that lead to new songs. I wrote, Our
dear dear Mother, I get teary when I hear our
(05:05):
dear dear mother, Daily provider, Earth be your name. The
time has come to honor you, to know you, and
to show our love. Our dear dear mother, Daily provide
(05:26):
be your name. The time has come to an to
know you and to show our love. Raffie emerged from
his sabbatical with a focused mission to protect the planet,
and he had a new album, Evergreen, Ever Blue. It
(05:47):
was his wake up call to the destruction of the Earth.
It was a big shift for Raffy. His earlier children's
songs had hinted at environmentalism, songs like all I Really
Need and thanks a lot. But now Ralf he had
an entire album devoted to the planet and the song
is called Voices from the Jungle Say Never. As it
(06:21):
was beginning, You've got this time, Ralph he wanted to
connect with adults and teens, the people he felt could
stop climate change, not his typical fans toddlers who struggled
to sit quietly through his performances. So Ralph, he said,
his sights on MTV music videos were all the rage.
(06:44):
They still are in some ways, but that's what you
required and in order to for people to get to,
you know, see your your song. The reason I tried
it was I felt so passionate about this planet that
needed all of us too. You know it's it's up
to you, It's up to me, so called. At the
(07:06):
same time, I felt it wasn't five year old's job
to help the Amazon stay intact. You know, it's up
to me. It's up RAPHI filmed the music video for Evergreen,
(07:27):
Ever Blue and an old growth forest on Vancouver Island.
In it, he sings and plays guitar beneath the giant
canopies of Douglas furs and Sita spruce. He has a
group of people singing with him, young environmentalists, tribal members,
and the Raging Granny's, a group of grandmother activists. It
kind of looks like a nature documentary, kind of like
(07:48):
a music video made for PBS. There are shots of
waterfalls and sunlit dappled leaves. At one point, Raffie hugs
a moss covered tree and passes around a crystal ball.
He says it was a metaphor for the future of
the planet being in human hands. And then the video
takes a turn and cuts to Raffie standing in a
(08:10):
barren field in front of a pile of tree stumps.
When we made the Evergreen, Ever Blue video, I was
taken to some cleer cutting sites just to experience what
a clear cut forest is like. It feels like you're
standing in death. Clear Cuts are horrible and a really
(08:32):
stupid idea of a bottom line money worshiping culture. That's
why I was so passionate in making the Evergreen, Ever
Blue album, trying something new for you know, slightly older
kids audience. You know, I was basically jumping through hoops
(08:53):
to try and make a difference. In true Raffie style,
he thought about every detail on his new album Whenever Green,
Ever Blue is released in nine record stores are transitioning
from selling vinyl to selling CDs, and the easiest way
to do that was to put CDs in long boxes,
those tall, skinny boxes that are about twice the size
(09:14):
of a CD. That's so they could be displayed in
the existing record bins. The problem was that meant CDs
came with a ton of unnecessary packaging. Ralphie put his
foot down. He was one of the first artists to
refuse to sell his music in wasteful packaging, but it
cost him. Some record stores wouldn't carry his album, and
(09:34):
that didn't go according to the plan. In the end, Evergreen,
Ever Blue was far from a smash hit. MTV never
aired his music videos, and radio stations didn't give the
album much play. Ralphie said he heard from angry parents
who were upset that the music wasn't appropriate for children.
I was too well known as a children's artists to
(09:56):
be played on adult music video stations. It wasn't possible
for that children's icon, as people considered me at the time,
two then change his audience. It just wasn't possible. This
was all a crazy irony to Raffie. In his autobiography,
(10:19):
he questioned how kids who grew up on his music
could watch quote, junk sex footage and macho rap, but
not his ecology music video. Rafy was frustrated and demoralized.
He was reading the news and listening to dire warnings
by scientists about the damaged humans were doing to the planet.
(10:40):
He felt there was no time to wait. Evergreen, Ever
Blue was his immediate response to climate change. Why didn't
his fans understand, like, how much clearer doesn't have to
be a warning to humanity. It's like it's like some
sci fi movie where you had some alien ship lands
(11:01):
and there's this warning to humanity, like Hello. Every year,
this Union of Concerned Science would come out with another
version of this warning. Well, what warning will we need
next to convince us? What will it take? Do we
(11:22):
love enough? That's my question. I'm still trying to picture
(11:42):
a Raffi music video on MTV in the early nineties. Evergreen,
Ever Blue on rotation with Nirvana smells like teen Spirit
or Can't Touch This by mc hammer. Look, I give
him credit for trying, but I'm thinking maybe he underestimated
how hard it would be to transform his image and
get his message out, and Evergreen ever Blue misses everything
(12:06):
I love about Raffie. In his earlier stuff, he was
playful and genuine. It was infectious because he was having fun.
If Baby Bluego was candy, this was vegetables. Here's what
I mean. Listen to the ending of Willoughby Wallaby Wou
from single Songs for the Very Young Willoughby Wallaby, when
(12:27):
an elephant set on Ken and Willoughby Wallaby Whaffy set
on RAFFI now compare that to we Are Not Alone
from Evergreen Ever Blue. We're crying shut the spread out amicas.
We're crying shut clear haze. We're saying no more? Can
(12:54):
we be that it's safe to hide our heads in
the sand to understand the Oh It just doesn't sound
like Raffie. He's trying so hard, but his words and
(13:15):
his whole vibe feel forced, like he's playing a character.
It cool it who this planet down? We can't give
it up. WI rap with Christophe more we get to
(13:38):
get done. Overall, the album feels a little lost. There's
pop music mixed with folk and reggae, but unlike his
earlier music, this doesn't sound cohesive. It sort of feels
like he's searching for something, maybe even for himself. Now,
(14:02):
I am not a music critic, and I respect what
raf He was trying to do. He was calling out
the harsh realities of climate change. He was done singing
about happy blooga whales because that didn't get people to
protect them. We are literally breathing, drinking, and eating the
nourishment that our mother provides. So do we really not
(14:25):
understand connection between Mother Earth and us her children? Do
we really not understand are very dependents on the air, water,
soil quality of this beautiful planet that we call home.
Raphe's fans weren't the only ones confused by Evergreen Ever Blue.
(14:47):
The press didn't understand his new direction either, and I'll
admit the newspaper articles were rough. In The Washington Post
ran a piece called Rafe's Growing Pains. The reporter wrote,
the new Raffie writes angry music for adults now. Time
(15:08):
magazine questioned why the most popular children singer abandoned his audience.
Evergreen ever Blue, the magazine said, was not merely inappropriate
for toddlers. It is a warning screech of apocalypse that
had to hurt Rafie devoted a big chunk of his
(15:31):
autobiography to these articles. How he felt the media dismissed
his environmental awakening. He says he was chopped up to
being a madman or having a midlife crisis. Adopting an
environmental message and appealing to an older audience was a
big gamble. Dorian Lynskey is the author of thirty three
Revolutions per Minute, a history of protest songs. Dorian reminded
(15:54):
me about the Dixie Chicks, or the Chicks as they're
now known, and what can happen when an audience doesn't
go along with an artist transformation. So a really extreme
example which which interests me, is in two thousands three
when Natalie Maines in the Dixie Chicks criticize the Iraq
War and George Bush on stage in London instead, I'm
(16:15):
ashamed President the United States and Texas got a huge
cheer in the room, and that line was quoted in
a review which got picked up by talk radio and
Fox News and so on, and they became demonized by
conservatives but also by the country scene, and they were
pulled off the radio, and that these kind of ceremonial
(16:37):
you know, smashing of their c d s. They were
viciously attacked, and I think that's an example of what
happens where the audience and your scene violently reacts to
your politics. I don't think people are reacting to Raphae's politics.
(16:57):
I think they just didn't like his new vibe. He
literally changed everything that people loved about him. Still, it's
risky for an artist to release protest music. Dorian says
it's successful when audiences are also feeling upset or uneasy,
like when the economy is tanking or the world's on
the brink of a nuclear war. The problem is Raphie
(17:19):
released Evergreen, ever Blue in the economy is fairly stable.
They were not worried that democracy itself is under threats,
and you know, the planet is burning. It's a very
optimistic time, and so to the end of apartheid, and
it's the end of the Cold War. It's not really
(17:39):
a time of crisis when people are looking for crisis art.
Even with the critical reviews and the angry feedback from fans,
Raphi was undaunted. He felt the world was heading in
the wrong direction. In he traveled to the United Nations
Earth Summit in Rio de jann Arrow with environmentalists. David's
(17:59):
is Juki and his daughter seven. Seven was twelve years
old at the time, and gave a speech to a
packed audience, and by the time her five or seven
minute talk was done, she got a standing ovation, and
al Gore walked all the way over to where seven
was sitting, reached out his hand, he said, seven, that's
(18:22):
the best speech I've heard all week. Wow. What was
it about this speech that had caused such a stare
and had such an impact on these adults? She said,
I came five thousand miles to tell you, adults, you
must change your ways. She said. You say you love us,
and I challenge you, please show us, please reflect that love.
(18:46):
She said, in your choices. Pretty powerful, I challenge you,
she said, reminiscent of Greta Turnberg today, Ye who's challenging
adults to not get in the way of the healthy
future that she and all the world's children, all of
us deserve. Pretty potent. That is exactly what Severn called it.
(19:11):
Suzuki said at the age of twelve, realizing the hypocrisy
of adults was something Raffie could relate to. From his
own childhood, he felt like his parents would tell him
one thing, but then do the opposite. He grew up
(19:35):
feeling like he couldn't trust them to tell him the truth.
And there was something else. Severn was just twelve years old,
and there she was speaking to the United Nations. She
was supported and empowered by her parents. She had everything
(19:56):
Raffi wanted as a kid to be seen and heard
for who she was. Maybe finally, as an adult he
could be too. You know, not a lot of people
(20:18):
were talking about climate at that time that had such
a platform as him. The Two Earth Summit and Rio
(20:43):
had a big impact on Raffie. He soaked up as
much as he could. He rubbed elbows with then Senator
Al Gore, and he was blown away by conservationist Jacques
Cousteau's warnings about the degradation of the oceans. But it
was severn callis Suzuki speech that really resonated with Raffie.
He was awed by the power of a child's voice.
(21:06):
Maybe kids could be the change makers. After all, Rafie
left Rio vowing to support these young activists. His legacy
is one that I certainly relate to. Again, this idea
that we're all in this together and we all need
to protect the world. Philippe Cousto is Jacques Cousteau's grandson,
and he's following in his family's footsteps as a filmmaker, author,
(21:28):
and environmental activist. You probably know this, but Philippe's grandfather,
Jacques was a badass. He helped invent scuba diving. His
films about marine life sparked an understanding of what's deep
in the oceans and why we have to protect them.
He was a huge inspiration to Raffie too, And my
grandfather always said, you know, before we can talk about conservation,
(21:50):
we have to talk about education. We have to talk
about how we reach beyond the converted and start to
provide opportunities for young people to engage in Any social
movement in history, if it's successful, it's successful because it's
driven by a younger generation working with young people and
supporting and nurturing their ambitions. That's something both Philippe and
(22:11):
Raphy share. In two thousand five, Philip co founded Earth
Echo International. It's an organization that works with kids to
inspire environmental activism. What I see in young people all
the time is they don't know the meaning of the
word no. Young people have this and this wondrous ability
to cut through the bs and get to the root
(22:35):
of the problem and question the very nature of why
things are the way they are and how they work.
And that's such just a wondrous, inspiring attribute that young
people have, that that we as adults could learn a
lot from. Instead of getting caught up in what isn't possible,
we should spend a lot more time being caught up
(22:56):
in what is possible. Philip says that sometimes as adults,
we just have to get out of the way. We
have worked with young people who helped to draft legislation
in South Florida to require solar panels to be built
on new buildings, and it passed. People forget that it
was a young girl, probably not much old and twelve
and thirteen years old, that petitioned Maine, the state of Maine,
(23:18):
to ban styrofoam in fast food, particularly McDonald's take out.
It passed the legislature because of her fearsome advocacy for this,
and then McDonald's was like, well, we're not just going
to create a separate container for one state, and they
eliminated star foam from their entire takeout chain. One light,
(23:39):
one sun one sun lighting everyone. How do we help
them recognize that they can be powerful. I think that
the despondency, the sadness, and the despair that happens for
so many people is when you've one feels like one
(24:01):
doesn't have an impact, one has no power, one has
no agency in the world. And that's not true. I
think all of us can feel sad and despairing at times,
But dispairreer is not an energy to give ourselves over too.
We feel it, we noted, and we've set it aside
because we've got work to do. Our children need us
(24:25):
to do the work. And if we can show people
around the world why nature is valuable to their lives,
then they're going to protect it in their own enlightened
self interest, which is the best thing we can do.
(24:47):
This is sang. He runs an organization called Conservation International.
They do a lot to protect the earth, like working
with communities on sustainable farming practices and planting trees to
counter deforestation. For Jin, it all starts with placing a
value on nature, something he learned early on growing up
in Sri Lanka. When I was born, my grandmother took
(25:09):
me to see an astrologer and the astrologer told me that, um,
I told my grandmother that I would die by drowning,
so they kept me out of the water. They didn't
want me to swim in the ocean. In fact, I
wasn't even allowed to take a bath. They would literally
pour you know, cups of water over my head. Wow. Right,
And it made some sense, some logical sense. My grandmother
(25:31):
loved me, and she was very aware of how little
time I had, and so what she wanted to do.
She wanted to protect me. But when Sangin was nine,
his mother secretly taught him how to swim. My mother
isn't any great swimming, but she taught me how to swimming.
Had changed my life. And since then, I've literally gone
diving in almost every ocean on the planet, from the
Arctic to you know, raja Ampat, Indonesia to the Solomon
(25:54):
Islands the coast of California. Right. And I wondered often
like why my mom broke with tradition and took that
risk and taught me how to swim in it? And
what I can think about that is that my my
grandmother loved me, and so I wanted to protect me.
My mother loved me, but she also valued my life.
She started investing in me, and that's the guiding kind
(26:17):
of star that has always guided my work and my career.
So I know, I hate to say it this way,
but I don't think love alone is enough to actually
make anything stick. You also have to value it if
it's going to be sticky over the long period of time.
(26:38):
Working to protect the planet isn't Sandon's only job. He's
a new dad like me, with a little daughter at home.
How do you plan to talk to her about climate
change when you have a child. I think that you
want to protect this kid. We do owe it to
that next generation not to completely be so engulfed in
(26:59):
our own doom and gloom they we forget the beauty
and wonder and the resilience that this planet has, And
don't forget reinforcements on the way. You know, when I
look at my daughter, when I look at kids in school,
I am blown away by the level of intelligence, sophistication, tech,
savvinus care that they have. So I do have some
(27:19):
faith that this next generation is going to be the
rescue generation. I just don't want to spoil it so
much that she can't get to also enjoy it. There's
a fine balance between being a savior and savoring something,
and you've got to do a bit of both. Him, Raffie,
how are you? I'm good? How are you? Can you
(27:42):
see me? Awesome? I called Raffie one morning last fall.
I'd read about the historic rains that we're forcing people
from their homes not far from him in Canada. How's
everything with the floods up there? Are Are you safe? Um?
I've been Um, I've reading about it and following along.
Is everything okay up there? Thank you? It's fine for me.
(28:06):
I'm one of the lucky ones. Mother Nature's fury um
has been devastating for communities in my province of British Columbia.
There's no question that the climate emergency were in is
exacerbating and bringing about these extreme weather conditions and will
(28:27):
continue to do so. I mean, you don't have to
be a rocket scientist to get how perilous the situation
is and that bold climate action is the only way
forward to address it. Rafie was tired. The floods arrived
just a few months after extreme heat and wildfires had
(28:47):
ravaged the region. It's been over thirty years since he
released Evergreen, Ever Blue, and not much has changed. Raphe's
worries haven't changed either. What does your daughter Sonny need
in this world? She needs, uh, intact, ancient forests for many,
many reasons, including their beauty. I mean, it's astonishing to
(29:10):
me that we have to fight for the protection of
beauty and these trees that soak up carbon. That's what
we want, We need these people doing carbon offsets plant trees.
How about keeping the ones we already have, like the
giant ones. You know, Sorry, I just went on a
bit of a runt there. No, I completely understand, and
(29:33):
I appreciate the passion. Sometimes I will um think about
the future and the present moment and sunny and what
kind of world she's going to live in. And sometimes
I just feel like I lose hope, or I'll stay
up an extra hour at night tossing and turning. Do
you ever feel like that we have seen tragic escalation
(29:54):
of summer wildfires, of enormous intensity, of precedented wake up people,
wake up to this climate threat. It's our children, the
world we love, all of this, all of this. Raffie
(30:25):
has always been open to reinvention, so maybe it's not
a surprise that he'd circle back to his young fans
and to the idea of respect, that core value that
launched his career in the first place, because Ralphie was
discovering that maybe there was a link between protecting the
planet and how we raise our kids. Next time on
(31:14):
Finding Raffie, this philosophy which essentially woke me up from
a sound sleep with those two words sort of suspended
in the air, child honoring. I knew in that luminous
moment that I was being given something that would be
the work of the rest of my life. Finding Raffie
(31:39):
is a production of My Heart Radio and Fatherly in
partnership with Rococo Punch. It's produced by Catherine Fenalosa, Meredith Hannig,
and James Trout. Production assistance from Charlotte Livingston. Alex French
is our story consultant. Our senior producer is Andrea Swahe
Emily Foreman is our editor. Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado.
(32:02):
Raphae's music is courtesy of Troubadour Music Special thanks to
Kim Layton at Troubadour. Our executive producers are Jessica Albert
and John Parotti at Rococo Punch, Ty Trimble, Mike Rothman
and Jeff Eisenman at Fatherly and Me Chris Garcia, thank
you for listening. We're just living and grooving with one another.
(32:29):
You know, it's just this is real life, folks. This
ain't just like just somethings I'm concerned about. This is
real life.
In Raffie learned something that shocked him. He'd gotten to
hear talk about beluga whales at the Science Center in Toronto.
Raphie had loved these whales since he first saw one
named Kavana at an aquarium a decade earlier. Kavna inspired
him to write his most famous song, Baby Beluga, Baby
(00:21):
Deep Bluega in the deep Blue Sea swims so wild,
then you swim so keavn. Rafie wrote it at a
time when they Save the Whales movement was just starting.
Baby Luga, Baby Luga is the water. People don't want
(00:44):
to hear anger or sadness or frustration at how things
may have got to They want to hear and they
are inspired by the love in our hearts, especially the
love for our young. And I thought, instead of writing
a lament, I would write a beauty of a love
song for a magnificent creature, the bluga whale. You know
(01:04):
what you love, you care about, and you want to protect.
But at the Science Center, Ralfie learned that beluga whales
were dying at an alarming rate. Their legion covered bodies
were washing up on the shores of the St. Lawrence River,
just two hundred miles from Toronto. Industrial pollution had turned
the whales into hazardous waste sites and left them with cancer.
(01:28):
Ralfie was devastated. If this was happening to the Beluga whales,
the very animal he made famous in his song, what
were all these toxins doing to the children living near
the river. He wasn't sure if he could ever sing
Baby Beluga again. You know, it was one thing to
(01:56):
think about children with love and to sing loving songs
with them and for them. But if the world that
we all live in, if our children's future is compromised
unless we change our ways, well what's the point of
just singing? I said to myself. I mean, songs and
(02:18):
music are great, but they only go so far. You
need to take care of the theater in which we
are singing. If you will right the home theater, Raffie
began to question everything, his identity, his relationships, the world.
(02:39):
I'm Chris Garcia and this is Finding Raffie, a ten
part series from My Heart Radio and Fatherly in partnership
with Rococo Punch, about the life, the philosophy, and the
work of Raffie, the man behind the music. By the
late eighties, Raffie was tired and burnt out. He'd been
(03:02):
touring NonStop. His creativity felt limited, and he was angry
and despairing. He needed a break from playing to young children,
so he made a pretty big decision that stunned everyone
around him. He decided to take a year off, no concerts,
no touring. Instead, Ralphie spent a lot of time learning
(03:23):
about the world, and he found himself reading about one
environmental disaster after another. Acid rain are growing hole in
the ozone layer, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. This
was also when he discovered the radio series It's a
Matter of Survival, which might sound familiar. It was made
(03:43):
by his good friend David Suzuki, and it had a
huge impact on Raffie. It said that unless we as
a species collectively acted in a timely manner to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, we risked they're reaching a point where
(04:03):
the warming is irreversible, and that would be catastrophic. So
when I heard the word irreversible, I had a major
meltdown within myself because that's the appropriate response. Actually, I mean,
that's major fear. Oh my god, it would get so
(04:24):
bad that we couldn't do anything about it. That ought
to scare you to the core, and it did me. Meanwhile,
Raffie and his wife deb split up. He moved out
of the house they shared and found a bachelor pad,
and he returned to an earlier hobby of his painting.
In his autobiography, Raffi wrote that he filled the walls
(04:45):
with his own art, oil pastels of abstract images and
female nudes. He was kind of spreading his wings. Well.
There was a year of introspection and a year of
a year that lead to new songs. I wrote, Our
dear dear Mother, I get teary when I hear our
(05:05):
dear dear mother, Daily provider, Earth be your name. The
time has come to honor you, to know you, and
to show our love. Our dear dear mother, Daily provide
(05:26):
be your name. The time has come to an to
know you and to show our love. Raffie emerged from
his sabbatical with a focused mission to protect the planet,
and he had a new album, Evergreen, Ever Blue. It
(05:47):
was his wake up call to the destruction of the Earth.
It was a big shift for Raffy. His earlier children's
songs had hinted at environmentalism, songs like all I Really
Need and thanks a lot. But now Ralf he had
an entire album devoted to the planet and the song
is called Voices from the Jungle Say Never. As it
(06:21):
was beginning, You've got this time, Ralph he wanted to
connect with adults and teens, the people he felt could
stop climate change, not his typical fans toddlers who struggled
to sit quietly through his performances. So Ralph, he said,
his sights on MTV music videos were all the rage.
(06:44):
They still are in some ways, but that's what you
required and in order to for people to get to,
you know, see your your song. The reason I tried
it was I felt so passionate about this planet that
needed all of us too. You know it's it's up
to you, It's up to me, so called. At the
(07:06):
same time, I felt it wasn't five year old's job
to help the Amazon stay intact. You know, it's up
to me. It's up RAPHI filmed the music video for Evergreen,
(07:27):
Ever Blue and an old growth forest on Vancouver Island.
In it, he sings and plays guitar beneath the giant
canopies of Douglas furs and Sita spruce. He has a
group of people singing with him, young environmentalists, tribal members,
and the Raging Granny's, a group of grandmother activists. It
kind of looks like a nature documentary, kind of like
(07:48):
a music video made for PBS. There are shots of
waterfalls and sunlit dappled leaves. At one point, Raffie hugs
a moss covered tree and passes around a crystal ball.
He says it was a metaphor for the future of
the planet being in human hands. And then the video
takes a turn and cuts to Raffie standing in a
(08:10):
barren field in front of a pile of tree stumps.
When we made the Evergreen, Ever Blue video, I was
taken to some cleer cutting sites just to experience what
a clear cut forest is like. It feels like you're
standing in death. Clear Cuts are horrible and a really
(08:32):
stupid idea of a bottom line money worshiping culture. That's
why I was so passionate in making the Evergreen, Ever
Blue album, trying something new for you know, slightly older
kids audience. You know, I was basically jumping through hoops
(08:53):
to try and make a difference. In true Raffie style,
he thought about every detail on his new album Whenever Green,
Ever Blue is released in nine record stores are transitioning
from selling vinyl to selling CDs, and the easiest way
to do that was to put CDs in long boxes,
those tall, skinny boxes that are about twice the size
(09:14):
of a CD. That's so they could be displayed in
the existing record bins. The problem was that meant CDs
came with a ton of unnecessary packaging. Ralphie put his
foot down. He was one of the first artists to
refuse to sell his music in wasteful packaging, but it
cost him. Some record stores wouldn't carry his album, and
(09:34):
that didn't go according to the plan. In the end, Evergreen,
Ever Blue was far from a smash hit. MTV never
aired his music videos, and radio stations didn't give the
album much play. Ralphie said he heard from angry parents
who were upset that the music wasn't appropriate for children.
I was too well known as a children's artists to
(09:56):
be played on adult music video stations. It wasn't possible
for that children's icon, as people considered me at the time,
two then change his audience. It just wasn't possible. This
was all a crazy irony to Raffie. In his autobiography,
(10:19):
he questioned how kids who grew up on his music
could watch quote, junk sex footage and macho rap, but
not his ecology music video. Rafy was frustrated and demoralized.
He was reading the news and listening to dire warnings
by scientists about the damaged humans were doing to the planet.
(10:40):
He felt there was no time to wait. Evergreen, Ever
Blue was his immediate response to climate change. Why didn't
his fans understand, like, how much clearer doesn't have to
be a warning to humanity. It's like it's like some
sci fi movie where you had some alien ship lands
(11:01):
and there's this warning to humanity, like Hello. Every year,
this Union of Concerned Science would come out with another
version of this warning. Well, what warning will we need
next to convince us? What will it take? Do we
(11:22):
love enough? That's my question. I'm still trying to picture
(11:42):
a Raffi music video on MTV in the early nineties. Evergreen,
Ever Blue on rotation with Nirvana smells like teen Spirit
or Can't Touch This by mc hammer. Look, I give
him credit for trying, but I'm thinking maybe he underestimated
how hard it would be to transform his image and
get his message out, and Evergreen ever Blue misses everything
(12:06):
I love about Raffie. In his earlier stuff, he was
playful and genuine. It was infectious because he was having fun.
If Baby Bluego was candy, this was vegetables. Here's what
I mean. Listen to the ending of Willoughby Wallaby Wou
from single Songs for the Very Young Willoughby Wallaby, when
(12:27):
an elephant set on Ken and Willoughby Wallaby Whaffy set
on RAFFI now compare that to we Are Not Alone
from Evergreen Ever Blue. We're crying shut the spread out amicas.
We're crying shut clear haze. We're saying no more? Can
(12:54):
we be that it's safe to hide our heads in
the sand to understand the Oh It just doesn't sound
like Raffie. He's trying so hard, but his words and
(13:15):
his whole vibe feel forced, like he's playing a character.
It cool it who this planet down? We can't give
it up. WI rap with Christophe more we get to
(13:38):
get done. Overall, the album feels a little lost. There's
pop music mixed with folk and reggae, but unlike his
earlier music, this doesn't sound cohesive. It sort of feels
like he's searching for something, maybe even for himself. Now,
(14:02):
I am not a music critic, and I respect what
raf He was trying to do. He was calling out
the harsh realities of climate change. He was done singing
about happy blooga whales because that didn't get people to
protect them. We are literally breathing, drinking, and eating the
nourishment that our mother provides. So do we really not
(14:25):
understand connection between Mother Earth and us her children? Do
we really not understand are very dependents on the air, water,
soil quality of this beautiful planet that we call home.
Raphe's fans weren't the only ones confused by Evergreen Ever Blue.
(14:47):
The press didn't understand his new direction either, and I'll
admit the newspaper articles were rough. In The Washington Post
ran a piece called Rafe's Growing Pains. The reporter wrote,
the new Raffie writes angry music for adults now. Time
(15:08):
magazine questioned why the most popular children singer abandoned his audience.
Evergreen ever Blue, the magazine said, was not merely inappropriate
for toddlers. It is a warning screech of apocalypse that
had to hurt Rafie devoted a big chunk of his
(15:31):
autobiography to these articles. How he felt the media dismissed
his environmental awakening. He says he was chopped up to
being a madman or having a midlife crisis. Adopting an
environmental message and appealing to an older audience was a
big gamble. Dorian Lynskey is the author of thirty three
Revolutions per Minute, a history of protest songs. Dorian reminded
(15:54):
me about the Dixie Chicks, or the Chicks as they're
now known, and what can happen when an audience doesn't
go along with an artist transformation. So a really extreme
example which which interests me, is in two thousands three
when Natalie Maines in the Dixie Chicks criticize the Iraq
War and George Bush on stage in London instead, I'm
(16:15):
ashamed President the United States and Texas got a huge
cheer in the room, and that line was quoted in
a review which got picked up by talk radio and
Fox News and so on, and they became demonized by
conservatives but also by the country scene, and they were
pulled off the radio, and that these kind of ceremonial
(16:37):
you know, smashing of their c d s. They were
viciously attacked, and I think that's an example of what
happens where the audience and your scene violently reacts to
your politics. I don't think people are reacting to Raphae's politics.
(16:57):
I think they just didn't like his new vibe. He
literally changed everything that people loved about him. Still, it's
risky for an artist to release protest music. Dorian says
it's successful when audiences are also feeling upset or uneasy,
like when the economy is tanking or the world's on
the brink of a nuclear war. The problem is Raphie
(17:19):
released Evergreen, ever Blue in the economy is fairly stable.
They were not worried that democracy itself is under threats,
and you know, the planet is burning. It's a very
optimistic time, and so to the end of apartheid, and
it's the end of the Cold War. It's not really
(17:39):
a time of crisis when people are looking for crisis art.
Even with the critical reviews and the angry feedback from fans,
Raphi was undaunted. He felt the world was heading in
the wrong direction. In he traveled to the United Nations
Earth Summit in Rio de jann Arrow with environmentalists. David's
(17:59):
is Juki and his daughter seven. Seven was twelve years
old at the time, and gave a speech to a
packed audience, and by the time her five or seven
minute talk was done, she got a standing ovation, and
al Gore walked all the way over to where seven
was sitting, reached out his hand, he said, seven, that's
(18:22):
the best speech I've heard all week. Wow. What was
it about this speech that had caused such a stare
and had such an impact on these adults? She said,
I came five thousand miles to tell you, adults, you
must change your ways. She said. You say you love us,
and I challenge you, please show us, please reflect that love.
(18:46):
She said, in your choices. Pretty powerful, I challenge you,
she said, reminiscent of Greta Turnberg today, Ye who's challenging
adults to not get in the way of the healthy
future that she and all the world's children, all of
us deserve. Pretty potent. That is exactly what Severn called it.
(19:11):
Suzuki said at the age of twelve, realizing the hypocrisy
of adults was something Raffie could relate to. From his
own childhood, he felt like his parents would tell him
one thing, but then do the opposite. He grew up
(19:35):
feeling like he couldn't trust them to tell him the truth.
And there was something else. Severn was just twelve years old,
and there she was speaking to the United Nations. She
was supported and empowered by her parents. She had everything
(19:56):
Raffi wanted as a kid to be seen and heard
for who she was. Maybe finally, as an adult he
could be too. You know, not a lot of people
(20:18):
were talking about climate at that time that had such
a platform as him. The Two Earth Summit and Rio
(20:43):
had a big impact on Raffie. He soaked up as
much as he could. He rubbed elbows with then Senator
Al Gore, and he was blown away by conservationist Jacques
Cousteau's warnings about the degradation of the oceans. But it
was severn callis Suzuki speech that really resonated with Raffie.
He was awed by the power of a child's voice.
(21:06):
Maybe kids could be the change makers. After all, Rafie
left Rio vowing to support these young activists. His legacy
is one that I certainly relate to. Again, this idea
that we're all in this together and we all need
to protect the world. Philippe Cousto is Jacques Cousteau's grandson,
and he's following in his family's footsteps as a filmmaker, author,
(21:28):
and environmental activist. You probably know this, but Philippe's grandfather,
Jacques was a badass. He helped invent scuba diving. His
films about marine life sparked an understanding of what's deep
in the oceans and why we have to protect them.
He was a huge inspiration to Raffie too, And my
grandfather always said, you know, before we can talk about conservation,
(21:50):
we have to talk about education. We have to talk
about how we reach beyond the converted and start to
provide opportunities for young people to engage in Any social
movement in history, if it's successful, it's successful because it's
driven by a younger generation working with young people and
supporting and nurturing their ambitions. That's something both Philippe and
(22:11):
Raphy share. In two thousand five, Philip co founded Earth
Echo International. It's an organization that works with kids to
inspire environmental activism. What I see in young people all
the time is they don't know the meaning of the
word no. Young people have this and this wondrous ability
to cut through the bs and get to the root
(22:35):
of the problem and question the very nature of why
things are the way they are and how they work.
And that's such just a wondrous, inspiring attribute that young
people have, that that we as adults could learn a
lot from. Instead of getting caught up in what isn't possible,
we should spend a lot more time being caught up
(22:56):
in what is possible. Philip says that sometimes as adults,
we just have to get out of the way. We
have worked with young people who helped to draft legislation
in South Florida to require solar panels to be built
on new buildings, and it passed. People forget that it
was a young girl, probably not much old and twelve
and thirteen years old, that petitioned Maine, the state of Maine,
(23:18):
to ban styrofoam in fast food, particularly McDonald's take out.
It passed the legislature because of her fearsome advocacy for this,
and then McDonald's was like, well, we're not just going
to create a separate container for one state, and they
eliminated star foam from their entire takeout chain. One light,
(23:39):
one sun one sun lighting everyone. How do we help
them recognize that they can be powerful. I think that
the despondency, the sadness, and the despair that happens for
so many people is when you've one feels like one
(24:01):
doesn't have an impact, one has no power, one has
no agency in the world. And that's not true. I
think all of us can feel sad and despairing at times,
But dispairreer is not an energy to give ourselves over too.
We feel it, we noted, and we've set it aside
because we've got work to do. Our children need us
(24:25):
to do the work. And if we can show people
around the world why nature is valuable to their lives,
then they're going to protect it in their own enlightened
self interest, which is the best thing we can do.
(24:47):
This is sang. He runs an organization called Conservation International.
They do a lot to protect the earth, like working
with communities on sustainable farming practices and planting trees to
counter deforestation. For Jin, it all starts with placing a
value on nature, something he learned early on growing up
in Sri Lanka. When I was born, my grandmother took
(25:09):
me to see an astrologer and the astrologer told me that, um,
I told my grandmother that I would die by drowning,
so they kept me out of the water. They didn't
want me to swim in the ocean. In fact, I
wasn't even allowed to take a bath. They would literally
pour you know, cups of water over my head. Wow. Right,
And it made some sense, some logical sense. My grandmother
(25:31):
loved me, and she was very aware of how little
time I had, and so what she wanted to do.
She wanted to protect me. But when Sangin was nine,
his mother secretly taught him how to swim. My mother
isn't any great swimming, but she taught me how to swimming.
Had changed my life. And since then, I've literally gone
diving in almost every ocean on the planet, from the
Arctic to you know, raja Ampat, Indonesia to the Solomon
(25:54):
Islands the coast of California. Right. And I wondered often
like why my mom broke with tradition and took that
risk and taught me how to swim in it? And
what I can think about that is that my my
grandmother loved me, and so I wanted to protect me.
My mother loved me, but she also valued my life.
She started investing in me, and that's the guiding kind
(26:17):
of star that has always guided my work and my career.
So I know, I hate to say it this way,
but I don't think love alone is enough to actually
make anything stick. You also have to value it if
it's going to be sticky over the long period of time.
(26:38):
Working to protect the planet isn't Sandon's only job. He's
a new dad like me, with a little daughter at home.
How do you plan to talk to her about climate
change when you have a child. I think that you
want to protect this kid. We do owe it to
that next generation not to completely be so engulfed in
(26:59):
our own doom and gloom they we forget the beauty
and wonder and the resilience that this planet has, And
don't forget reinforcements on the way. You know, when I
look at my daughter, when I look at kids in school,
I am blown away by the level of intelligence, sophistication, tech,
savvinus care that they have. So I do have some
(27:19):
faith that this next generation is going to be the
rescue generation. I just don't want to spoil it so
much that she can't get to also enjoy it. There's
a fine balance between being a savior and savoring something,
and you've got to do a bit of both. Him, Raffie,
how are you? I'm good? How are you? Can you
(27:42):
see me? Awesome? I called Raffie one morning last fall.
I'd read about the historic rains that we're forcing people
from their homes not far from him in Canada. How's
everything with the floods up there? Are Are you safe? Um?
I've been Um, I've reading about it and following along.
Is everything okay up there? Thank you? It's fine for me.
(28:06):
I'm one of the lucky ones. Mother Nature's fury um
has been devastating for communities in my province of British Columbia.
There's no question that the climate emergency were in is
exacerbating and bringing about these extreme weather conditions and will
(28:27):
continue to do so. I mean, you don't have to
be a rocket scientist to get how perilous the situation
is and that bold climate action is the only way
forward to address it. Rafie was tired. The floods arrived
just a few months after extreme heat and wildfires had
(28:47):
ravaged the region. It's been over thirty years since he
released Evergreen, Ever Blue, and not much has changed. Raphe's
worries haven't changed either. What does your daughter Sonny need
in this world? She needs, uh, intact, ancient forests for many,
many reasons, including their beauty. I mean, it's astonishing to
(29:10):
me that we have to fight for the protection of
beauty and these trees that soak up carbon. That's what
we want, We need these people doing carbon offsets plant trees.
How about keeping the ones we already have, like the
giant ones. You know, Sorry, I just went on a
bit of a runt there. No, I completely understand, and
(29:33):
I appreciate the passion. Sometimes I will um think about
the future and the present moment and sunny and what
kind of world she's going to live in. And sometimes
I just feel like I lose hope, or I'll stay
up an extra hour at night tossing and turning. Do
you ever feel like that we have seen tragic escalation
(29:54):
of summer wildfires, of enormous intensity, of precedented wake up people,
wake up to this climate threat. It's our children, the
world we love, all of this, all of this. Raffie
(30:25):
has always been open to reinvention, so maybe it's not
a surprise that he'd circle back to his young fans
and to the idea of respect, that core value that
launched his career in the first place, because Ralphie was
discovering that maybe there was a link between protecting the
planet and how we raise our kids. Next time on
(31:14):
Finding Raffie, this philosophy which essentially woke me up from
a sound sleep with those two words sort of suspended
in the air, child honoring. I knew in that luminous
moment that I was being given something that would be
the work of the rest of my life. Finding Raffie
(31:39):
is a production of My Heart Radio and Fatherly in
partnership with Rococo Punch. It's produced by Catherine Fenalosa, Meredith Hannig,
and James Trout. Production assistance from Charlotte Livingston. Alex French
is our story consultant. Our senior producer is Andrea Swahe
Emily Foreman is our editor. Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado.
(32:02):
Raphae's music is courtesy of Troubadour Music Special thanks to
Kim Layton at Troubadour. Our executive producers are Jessica Albert
and John Parotti at Rococo Punch, Ty Trimble, Mike Rothman
and Jeff Eisenman at Fatherly and Me Chris Garcia, thank
you for listening. We're just living and grooving with one another.
(32:29):
You know, it's just this is real life, folks. This
ain't just like just somethings I'm concerned about. This is
real life.
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