PORTLAND NEEDS WILLAMETTE WEEK.
NOW WILLAMETTE WEEK NEEDS YOU.

The need for strong, independent local journalism
is more urgent than ever. Please support the city we
love by joining Friends of Willamette Week.

Legendary Children’s Entertainer Raffi Has Written a Song About the Wall of Moms

The “Baby Beluga” singer tweeted that the idea for the song, called “Portland Moms," hit him at 3 am.

Raffi at Aladdin Theater in 2015. IMAGE: Thomas Teal.

By Matthew Singer

The last time an artist who lives in Canada wrote a song about Portland, it referenced side pieces, Ike Turner and drug lord Griselda Blanco, and featured the line, "Out in Portland/Trying to get in her organs."

This latest one is…a bit different.

On Saturday, Raffi Cavoukian, the beloved children's singer known simply as Raffi, dropped a new track on Twitter celebrating the Black Lives Matter movement and, in particular, Portland's now-famous Wall of Moms.

The "Baby Beluga" singer and longtime activist tweeted that the idea for the song, called "Portland Moms," hit him at 3 am, and it was recorded quickly with an assist from singer Lindsay Munroe and dobro player Ivan Rosenberg. It's a short, simple folk jam, shouting out Black Lives Matter and the Wall of Vets in addition to the song's namesake, with a refrain nodding the nightly protests downtown.

Here's hoping this soon becomes an actual protest anthem, perhaps sung at federal agents as an eerie lullaby.

Related: Three Women in the Portland "Wall of Moms" Hold or Seek Elected Office.