Shaffy visited the set of Sesamstraat, the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street, in the early eighties, to sing a song for Ieniemienie and Tommie. The duo enjoy his song so much that they start dancing to it. In May 2009 it was made public that Ramses Shaffy suffered from esophageal cancer. Being positive as always, he considered his disease a new interesting part of his life. Shaffy died half a year later, aged 76.