WEBVTT - Singable Songs For The Very Young 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:09.479 Here we go. There's nothing more comforting than hearing the 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:17.040 soft crackle of a needle on a record. The more 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:25.840 we get together again, the more we get together your 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:30.400 life friends and my friends, sorry, your friends, the more 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:36.159 we get together. When I started listening to Raffie, I 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.479 ordered his first kid's album on vinyl, single Moore Songs 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.159 for the Very Young and Sorry, Raffie. I got it 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.560 on eBay, so you won't be seeing any of this money. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.239 But as soon as I got it, I went all in, 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:52.640 maybe a little too much. Love of bis and children's 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:55.000 songs are just kind of weird and halfway terrifying, Like, 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.080 what is this song even about it? I can imagine 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.360 it on a Beatles album. Also, so why the kids 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.080 love Whistle so much? I wonder? Is this strategy me 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:07.120 into madness. I have these wild, almost conspiracy theories about 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.280 how he's naming his albums. I'm not actually sure what 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:17.640 that means, but it sounds fun, that little burbling keyboard sound. 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:20.880 I'm gonna go ahead and call it a club banger. 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.440 Dear Raffi, I like your hat. Do you write lots 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.480 of songs? Because I like them a lot. I appreciate 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.520 his attention to detail on putting this very comfortable song 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.880 after that kind of scary, weird song, I started to 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.399 see just how carefully crafted it was. Starting with the cover. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.520 It's a portrait of Raffi in crayon, drawn by a 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:46.240 seven year old fan, and it really captures Raffi, the beard, 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.120 the guitar, he's even sitting on a stool as if 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.440 he's performing at some coffee house in the village. And 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.360 at the bottom he added his personal flare with the 0:01:55.360 --> 0:02:00.280 words great with a peanut butter sandwich. The cover loan 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.360 speaks to Raphie's commitment to his audience and do his 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:08.120 great attention to detail. Looking back, it feels like it 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.480 was like pulling teeth, but it wasn't quite. But even 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:16.239 something like that crayon border, I tried it in four 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:18.760 or five different colors, and I cut the paper out 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.160 and put it on the rest of the cover and 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.920 stood on a chair looking down. Well, it's so well 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.720 put together. Just the artwork alone is so well composed 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.200 and so thoughtful and so intentional. What do you think 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.560 of yourself as a perfectionist I was back then, but 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.720 I mean even without that, you you strive for excellence 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:43.840 you know, if I did a good job, I'm proud 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.919 of it. Where do you think this came from? This 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.720 drive to do something excellent, because it's not within everybody 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.560 to be completely excellent at all times. I was a 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.760 very good student when I was younger. I was always 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.400 near the top of my class. There was a push 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.400 to excel that came from my parents, and there was 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.680 also the model of my father's photography, where he was 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:07.400 immaculate and what he did he had high standards, and 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.560 I think I I soaked up a lot of that, 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:16.800 you know, so I gave it my best certainty. Raphael's father, Arto, 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.200 was a master portrait artist. So was Arto's father. These 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.679 men had confidence in their trade and worked constantly. When 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.800 Arto presented his clients with a finished product, he'd only 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.760 give them one proof, just one proof that met his 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:38.040 standards of perfection. I know something about having a perfectionist father. 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.480 My dad, Andres was an aerospace machinist, a trade where 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.560 there's no room for error. He drove two hours to 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.240 and from work each day, coming home smelling like metal. 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.160 I think about that every time I don't want to 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:53.960 go out and do a set, or when a joke 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:58.120 doesn't land just right. His dedication to his craft set 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.840 the bar for me, leading to my own perfectionism, something 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.560 Raffi has struggled with. Two In his book, he writes 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.720 that he used to take things too seriously. It was 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.960 always a push and pull between following joy and meeting 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.960 the standards set by generations of Cabukians, especially when it 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.960 came to sweating the small stuff. And you can see 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.159 it in the liner notes of single bowl Songs for 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.400 the very Young, where no detail has missed and no 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.920 opportunity for a little more playfulness is left on the table. 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.080 You credit Santa for playing the sleigh bells, Well, you 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:42.480 got credit Santa. Nothing Raffie did was by accident. I'm 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.960 Chris Garcia and This is Fighting Raffie, a ten part 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.080 series from My Heart Radio and Fatherly in partnership with 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:54.640 Rococo Punch, about the life, philosophy, and the work of Raffie, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:03.080 the man behind the music. Raphi was seven in nine. 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.320 At night, he was playing gigs and smokey bars, loud 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.560 clubs and coffee houses around Toronto to make some extra cash. 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.440 He started playing for a new crowd in Toronto. There 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.560 was a program that used to pay folk singers to 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:22.640 come into the classroom sing songs with kids like Michael 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.280 Roll the Boat, Ashore, Swing Low, Sweet Area, all that 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.599 kind of stuff, you know, and that was fun. He'd 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.039 also reunited with his high school sweetheart, Deborah Pike also 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.440 known as deb Or Debbie, who was a primary school teacher. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.719 Deb taught Raphy the words to these songs he hadn't 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:41.960 grown up with. So I had to learn Bah bah 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:52.200 black sheep word for word, and I went wow. Raphy 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.560 didn't really know any kids. He'd never really even thought 0:05:55.560 --> 0:06:00.120 about them until they became his audience. I'm marvel that 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.880 what I was learning about kids, the kind of people. 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:09.000 They are there spontaneous for sure, and they're learning all 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.120 the time. Everything is fresh and new for them. They're 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:19.720 learning what it feels like to be human. Something happened 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:21.760 when he showed up with a guitar and sat down 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:25.320 on a rug surrounded by eager, white eyed kids. He 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:30.320 held their attention. He was a natural. That's when Deb's mom, Daphne, 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.400 made a suggestion, maybe Ralph he should make an album 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.360 for kids, and I thought, well, that's an interesting idea. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.920 After all, RAPI wouldn't be the first folk singer to 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.080 make an album for kids. One of his heroes, Pete Seeger, 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:50.600 did it, maybe he could too. He and Deb decided 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.320 to do some field research. She and I visited a 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.720 couple of records stores as we called them in the 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:02.200 nineteen seventies, and we noticed that most, if not all, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:07.320 the children's recordings were stuck in some lowly been at 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.320 the back of the store, and there was a sign 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.880 that said to nine nine or something like it was. 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:17.239 It was like they were just pieces of extraneous trash 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:21.720 or something. This is what Raffi was up against. He 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:26.000 needed to persuade the music industry to take children's music seriously, 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.280 to invest in it. And to do that he had 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.040 to make something of quality, an album that demonstrated what 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:39.160 kids deserve. The language in most children's albums at the 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.080 time didn't reflect anything, I mean just it just talked 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.040 down to children, as if they were all babies and idiots. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.480 That's Burt Simpson, Ralphie's longtime friend, collaborator and now senior 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:55.600 associate at Troubadour Raphy's record company. Bert, along with his 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:01.440 wife Bonnie and Deb, became Raffie's official educational advisors. What 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.160 Bonnie and Debbie and I had was a lot of 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.040 experience with very young children and a lot of educational theory. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.920 But on the most practical level, we knew what kids like, 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:18.400 We knew what they would sing. Ralphie called them the Committee. Bert, 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.760 Bonnie and Debb were well versed in what young kids 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.880 needed to thrive. They were teachers who believed that children 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.640 should be active participants in their education. They subscribed to 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.840 the progressive educational models that were gaining popularity in the 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.360 sixties and seventies, like Monessori and the free school movement. 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:38.480 Raphie immersed himself in these ideas. It felt like he 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.920 and the Committee were getting down to something essential. Children 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.920 are people like you and me, their whole people. Just 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.880 because they're younger doesn't mean they're lesser people, And that 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.760 the way to be with children is to treat them 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.679 with respect for the people that they are, keeping in 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:03.240 mind where they are beginning stage of life. You see there, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.880 your compassion comes up here. These kids are learning all 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:09.680 about what it's like to be who we are as adults. 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.920 Only it's like they're in their adults and training kind 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.559 of thing, right, And how can you not have compassion 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:21.160 for a child who's basically doing their best, you know, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.080 and learning from there, Raffie and the committee came up 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:30.520 with a basic album philosophy. It was simple. One the 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.120 songs had to be fun for kids to sing to. 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.079 The album had to be enjoyable for adults, and three, 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.959 the album would respect children as listeners. So Ralphie had 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:45.600 his experts, he had his album philosophy. He knew what 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.119 he wanted the album to sound like. Now he needed musicians. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:54.000 So I enlisted the help of my good friend and 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.640 multi instrumentalists, Ken Whitely. And that was the smartest thing 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.760 I did, because Ken said, yeah, man, let's do it. 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.480 So I played banjo and mandolin and you know different 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.439 kinds oft and keyboards, you know, piano, accordion. This is 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.280 Ken Whiteley. And when Ralphie says he's a multi instrumentalist, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.920 well that's an understatement, because woo's all that kind of stuff. 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.520 Cannon Raffie met in their twenties through the Toronto folk 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.640 scene and reconnected after both had started to make contacts 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.360 in the industry. That's how kennew about a studio nearby 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.520 where they could record Ralphie's album. In n I had 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:37.320 recorded a couple of albums at this studio that was 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.840 ten dollars an hour in the basement of these two 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.240 brothers where they lived in the suburbs of the city 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:49.160 called Hamilton, Ontario. There's the Landwa Brothers, Bob Lanjue, his 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.679 brother Daniel Lanoix Danny for all you music nerds, Yeah, 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.720 that Daniel Lenois, producer of you Two's Octung Baby, Dylan's 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:01.240 Time out of Mind. He produced Brian Know, Willie Nelson, 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.680 I Mean, Lou Harris, Neil Young, the man Rolling Stone 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.840 called the most important record producer to emerge in the eighties, 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.080 started with Raffie No Wonder. I love this album so much. 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.800 Dan Lenois is a legend and I am not cuckoo 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:25.520 bananas for noticing this album's exquisite production value. It was 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:31.240 Daniel Lenoi's mother's home in the basement studio ad egg 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.559 Carton's on the ceiling. It occupied the whole basement. There 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.800 was a control room and they could move baffles around 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:42.320 to sort of create an isolated space. I said to myself, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:46.200 I'm getting my money's worth here. Everything was starting to 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.240 come together. The idea was to create an album for 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.720 kids that would be tonally and lyrically appropriate, but also 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:57.560 musically dynamic and interactive. It would have beautiful, pristine, high 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.880 quality production, and it would embrace the fact that kids 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:05.400 were a real audience, just like their parents. So with 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:29.800 beginner's luck, we proceeded to record in that setting. After 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.680 months of planning, it was go time for Raffi's first 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.160 children's album. Bob and Dan landwas sat behind the board. 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.160 Raffi and his musicians were tuned up and ready to go. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:45.559 Ken was, you know, doing his multi instrumentalist magic. He'd 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:50.320 play guitar here, he'd played banjo there, he'd play something else. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:55.679 And his brother Chris Whitelee, very talented musician, played trumpet 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.480 and he played harmonica. He played trumpet on Robbing in 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.640 the Rain. That turned out to be a great horn 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:08.360 section that that he did. Robbing in the ring. What 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:13.400 a saucy fellow, robbing in the ring on your socks 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.960 of yellow, running in the garden on your nimbo feet, 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:23.960 digging for your dinner with your long, strong beating. I 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.000 do remember bumping up and down in my little red 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.920 wagon because you know, it's basically Raphy singing and playing 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:35.120 guitar and me overdubbing half a dozen other instruments on 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.720 bumping up and down in my little red wagon, Bumping 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.520 up and down in my little red wagon, bumping up 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.400 and down in my little red wagon. Won't you be 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:49.000 in my dark? So these songs. The more we get 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:54.280 together with mandolin and down by the bay Willoughby Wallaby 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.440 who had trumpet in it, one track after another, this 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.600 little album that could started to gain form. You know, 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.240 Peanut butter sandwich made with jam, one for me and 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:12.640 one for David m Rama. Peanut butter sandwich made with 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:19.440 jim sticks stick sticky stick stick. I love to picture it. 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.160 Ken Whiteley playing every instrument he can get his hands on, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:28.280 Dan Lenois and his mom's basement, telling RAFFI, hey, Raffy, 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.560 because who was coming in a little flat on peanut 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.280 butter sandwich. Let's go ahead and take it from the top. 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.080 We literally, quote unquote didn't know what we were doing, 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.000 which is a delightful way to be when you're making 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:42.600 music because you're not self conscious about it. I mean, 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.120 if you listen to Willoby Wallaby woo and listen to 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.120 the what could I even call it? It's like a 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.960 vocal instrumental in the middle that dude that that yeah, 0:14:52.000 --> 0:15:02.000 that that is totally unself conscious do and it ends 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:04.640 with bah bah blah blah blah blah. But I'm and 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:06.840 sometimes I listen to now and I go, did I 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:11.840 really do that? The timing of it is perfect. It 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.280 just fell into the groove, you know, it just became 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.120 a groove thing. It was great. That's what I mean 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:22.120 about the un self consciousness of that beginner effort. I 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.840 made it out. They even included to holiday songs my 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.720 dradal and must be Santa, Who's got a beard that's 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:39.280 long and white comes around. We weren't going by any 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.480 you know, market research or anything. We were kind of 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.480 winging it, you know, having fun, including songs that we 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:49.720 thought kids would enjoy singing. And that's what we did. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.320 I mean, I remember, you know, driving to a blues 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.240 gig with a harmonica player and say, hey, you got 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:57.320 to hear this project I'm working on. You know, it 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.440 had that sort of enthusiasm attached to it, you know, 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.160 where you're wanting to share it as broadly as possible, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.680 and so I kind of had a feeling, Wow, this 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.400 could really be successful. You know. In those early days, 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.560 this group of adults was somehow able to tap into 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.760 what it feels like to be a kid. They captured 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:21.200 the wonder and the insecurity that's most evident to me 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.000 listening to the lyrics of I Wonder if I'm Growing. 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:30.360 I Wonder if I'm growing. I wonder if I'm growing. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:36.080 My mom says, yes, I'm growing, but it's hard for 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:41.240 me to see. My mom says, I remember playing nylon 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.040 string guitar on that song, not my steel string acoustic. 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.479 You can just feel that it's coming from a vulnerable 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.280 place that Raphael is singing I Wonder if I'm growing 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:57.080 in a genuine way, if I'm growing. I wonder if 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:01.520 I'm growing. My mom seemed to touch people who hear it, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.760 you know, because the song goes from wondering if I'm 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:09.359 growing too. Hey, I can reach the tap now for 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:14.760 the very first time today. So the song goes somewhere. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.560 It takes you somewhere, and if you're a young child listening, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:24.040 I think it probably adds to the child's wonderment of growing. 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.200 I Wonder if I'm Growing was the basic album Philosophy 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.359 in Action, a beautiful song that both kids and parents 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.960 would love that also respects children as they are, and 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.760 I think I must be growing if he only knew 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.160 how much he was about to grow in terms of 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.720 his career, in terms of what he was going to 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.439 be allowed to do as a person, speaking not just 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.960 to thirty five people at a coffeehouse, but you know, 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:56.160 to thirty people in an auditorium, or selling millions of records. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:03.360 It was November m Robbie Robertson in the Band held 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:07.240 their farewell concert. Jimmy Carter won the presidency over Gerald Ford. 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.359 The first Mega mouse Shark was discovered off the coast 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.919 of Oahu, and Raffie released his first kids album single 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.399 Bowre Songs for the Very Young Well Mr Son Son, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:23.240 Mr Golden Sun, We Shine down on Me, Mr Sun. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.600 Raffie was a one man record company. There was no 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.520 released team behind him. He really did it all d 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.600 I y, He licensed songs, he made the press, get 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.959 himself designed promotional posters. He had one thousand albums pressed 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.480 for its initial run. Well in time, I could afford 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:46.320 some help, some stuff, so that was great. But while 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.040 I was doing it, I had an adventure of play 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.199 actually about it. Here I was I was pretending I 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:56.359 was the delivery guy getting in my car and delivering albums, 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.440 going to the train station and sending him by train 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.600 across the country to a children's bookstore. Who was going 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.160 to sell my albums? Wow? I was a delivery man. 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.399 Wea you know, everyone on the committee chipped in to 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.520 get their beloved album out into the world. Bonnie and 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.000 Bert Simpson would even bring small record players two stores 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.800 so they could play the album. Everyone loved that because 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.600 nobody thought of that before. People would say, oh, who's 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.280 what's that? Who's that? And they showed in the record 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.600 and they sold really well. Right from the very beginning. 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.680 Ralphie's bet paid off single Bore Songs for the Very 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.720 Young was a hit right from the start. And then 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.760 when the album was released, I was singing in nursery 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.360 schools around Toronto and I'd take the album with me 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.160 and copies of it for sale, and people were buying 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.960 it in threes and fours to give his gifts. I 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.800 couldn't leave it. I mean, the word was getting out. 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.800 You know that this was a special album that you 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:02.960 can have some with you because I shared with you. 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:14.240 You have to to look back now and decipher why 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.840 Singapore Songs was so successful. It's hard to point to 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:21.920 one thing. Everything seemed to line up. The quality, production, 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.280 the research, the beginner spirit. These were key ingredients. But 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:28.919 there's also something to be said for Raphie and Ken's 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.280 history with folk music in a lot of ways that 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.280 set them up to make good music for kids in 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.240 the mood, in the mood, and the folk element is 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:45.520 there even in many of his own selections on these 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:50.560 marvelous recordings that work very well with children. This is 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:54.600 Dr Patricia she Hand Campbell. She's an ethno musicologist who 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:59.600 studies children's music. Patricia says ralphie songs tell stories and 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.119 a sound chill element of folk, and Raphie's music, just 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.400 like the songs of his heroes Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:09.080 are also especially easy for kids to sing along to. 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:13.560 And they don't reach a full octave, generally speaking, until 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:17.920 they're about eight or nine. So many of the songs 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:22.760 are within that smaller pitch range, within an octave, maybe 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.800 only five pitches in distance from one another. And that 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:33.720 was the place where were children's voices landed comfortably. Little 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:41.520 upon the name there was in the mood, in the 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:49.600 mood there was, and his name was with the overwhelming 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:52.800 success of Singable Songs, Raffi and his team started working 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:55.960 on the follow up album, More Singable Songs, came out 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.920 in ninety seven, and it slapped two. It was time 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:03.200 to take the show on the road. Hello, Hi, boys 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:08.880 and girls. And I'll never forget the very first concert 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:14.399 I had where we charged admission were buck when the 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.680 very song I said, the more we get together, and 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:19.879 by the time we got to the work together, the 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:24.320 whole place was singing. I couldn't believe it, dep cried. 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:26.120 I mean she was at the back of the hall, 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:30.080 she cried, hearing everyone sing. And that was it. That's 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:36.760 how it was gonna be from then on. Here's something 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.240 that amazes me about Raffie, how easily he can hold 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:44.000 the attention of an auditorium full of kids. I know 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:47.399 firsthand how difficult that is, because I used to be 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:51.080 a children's entertainer myself. At you see Berkeley's Public Science Center. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.160 I dress up like a wizard and teach kids about 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:58.280 electricity or do improv about the human brain. It was 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.000 so hard that I made the switch to stand up 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:06.440 comedy and entertaining drunk adults. Instead bumping up and down 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.480 in the little red Wagon bumping up and down. I 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:13.000 keep thinking about this one Raffy concert video, in particular, 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:19.600 whoa Dot to be My guard? Raffy is physically jumping 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:22.919 up and down in his seat. The camera pans up 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:25.520 to the balcony to show a pair of kids mimicking 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.480 his movements. In fact, the entire concert hall of kids 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:34.720 is bumping up and down in Unison's Hey, this wagon 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:38.840 is still busted. The stick of the song is that 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:43.840 the wagon keeps breaking down. By this point, the kids 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:46.840 are losing their minds yelling out the names of tools 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:51.200 Raffy could use to fix the wagon. Listen to those ideas. 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:54.160 This place is full of mechanics today. And just when 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:56.280 you think a riot is about to break out, if 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.359 Raffy stalls one more minute, he comes in with a 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:01.560 punch line. I wonder what I do is to fix 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:05.399 the wagon? Raff He's gonna fix it with those sandwich 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:11.359 Raffy's gonna fix it with this man's got time so 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:15.119 that he can eat it up and down in my 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:19.800 little red wagon. We had fun singing any songs together, 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:23.040 and then I would meet the audience after the show, 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:26.239 and that was kind of neat because kids with their 0:24:26.280 --> 0:24:29.320 parents would come up and the child would be trying 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:32.400 to say something to me, and maybe it was taking 0:24:32.440 --> 0:24:35.359 their time, and the parents would be trying to hurry 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:39.720 them along. Sometimes I'd say wait, let's just listen, please, 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:42.919 and then the child would have time to say something. 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:47.040 And kids would ask wonderful questions of me. In those 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:50.520 days of cassettes, Raffie, how did you get out of 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:55.880 my tape? They would say, well, it wasn't me who 0:24:55.960 --> 0:24:57.800 was in there in the first place. It was just 0:24:57.960 --> 0:25:06.080 my voice. That's what you're hearing. Oh that's Raffi reflects 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:09.800 on these early days of success in his autobiography. They 0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:13.560 were thrilling, but they were also stressful. He recalls getting 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:16.320 upset when dab, Bonnie and Bert were having too much 0:25:16.359 --> 0:25:19.920 fun in the process. Back then, he thought they had 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:23.199 serious work to do. You know, I've had periods of 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:27.119 my life where it's you know, I've had challenges to 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:30.040 go through. You know, I'm no different than anybody else, 0:25:30.160 --> 0:25:35.120 personal challenges, professional challenges. At one point I said to myself, 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:41.240 I keep falling up hill. Here's Burt. Rafi will spend 0:25:41.480 --> 0:25:45.760 a lot of time on the tiniest details of things, 0:25:46.080 --> 0:25:48.520 getting them exactly the way he wants them to be, 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:53.000 and that's just the way he is. The perfectionism could 0:25:53.000 --> 0:25:57.160 be tiring sometimes sometimes I just go on and say, okay, 0:25:57.160 --> 0:25:59.680 well let's just pick one show, you know, and get 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:02.040 on with that. But it's not like that. So if 0:26:02.040 --> 0:26:05.520 that's what he meant by taking himself seriously, you know 0:26:05.600 --> 0:26:09.600 he did. Ralphie's attention to detail and commitment to excellence 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:13.000 to the point of perfection sometimes put work ahead of fun. 0:26:13.720 --> 0:26:16.199 He writes that he could be controlling and moody if 0:26:16.240 --> 0:26:18.360 things didn't go his way, and that he often put 0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:22.359 too much pressure on others, but especially on himself. The 0:26:22.600 --> 0:26:26.400 friends in our lives can be a huge support to us. 0:26:27.480 --> 0:26:32.159 A prayerful attitude can often help in many ways. You know. 0:26:32.200 --> 0:26:35.399 I'm just grateful to always return to a place of 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:40.040 love and joy. Meanwhile, as Ralphie's family audiences kept growing, 0:26:40.400 --> 0:26:43.320 his dream of becoming a folk singer for adults started 0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:46.199 to fade. He kept some of his night gigs, but 0:26:46.280 --> 0:26:49.680 the dream started to feel too distant, so he decided 0:26:49.720 --> 0:26:53.440 to fully commit to his children's music career. Soon he 0:26:53.480 --> 0:26:56.920 would start selling out thousand seat venues and festivals from 0:26:56.920 --> 0:27:00.919