This is a collection of rough and in-progress demos of original songs. All music and lyrics are © 2022-23 Peter A. Rafle Jr. All Rights Reserved. Please contact the artist at pete@rafle.net for licensing and related questions.

PR Songsmith Demos

Every February, I participate in the February Album Writing Project (FAWM) -- an online community of songwriters with a shared goal of writing 14 new songs in 28 days. This year, I logged 10 finished songs, including 9 of my own, plus "Analog Man Rides Again," a collaborative effort with Connor Green @conorg and Rin Wolf @rinwolf1312, for which I contributed lyrics and vocals.  For the other 9 songs: all words, music, and performances copyright Peter A. Rafle Jr. 2023, all rights reserved. Contact me with questions pete@rafle.net  (Cover photo: David Graziano. Graphic Design: Pete Rafle)

Perseverance: Pete Rafle's February Album Writing Project 2023

Here, for the first time in internet history, is a digital version of the seminal 1986 town-gown compilation album, "Some New Ruins." The brainchild of David Levine, Yale '88, the record features some extraordinary talent -- New Haven rockers Bleached Black, Yale's Beauty Constant (featuring Sandy Smallens, later of Too Much Joy), and Cattle Collision, with Gustavus Stadler, local hardcore purveyors SxOxMx, Eli power pop pioneers the rafles, fronted by the Dambuilders' Dave Derby and featuring bassist Pete Rafle, drummer Nils Nadeau and DOJ's Ethan Shenkman on keys, (sax player Eric Lederman doesn't appear), Levine's own Senator Flux, with Mark Blackwell (later a groundbreaking writer for SPIN magazine), Leon Dewan, Charles Kronengold, and U Thant, whose guitarist Jim Shapiro went on to play drums for Veruca Salt.

SIDE A
1. Bleached Black, "Ecosong" (Stevo/Pryor) 2:45
2. U Thant, "Her Soul Arrives" (J. Shapiro) 3:40
3. Senator Flux, "(Walking the) Black Road" (D. Levine) 2:13
4. Cattle Collision, "Very Sorry Second Best" (P. Lee) 2:33
5. Beauty Constant, "Thursday Night" (S. Folta) 2:38
6. The Rafles, "The Biggest Day of Your Life" (Derby/Nadeau/Rafle)3:05
7. SxOxMx, "Life as it Is" (J. Robinson) 3:47

SIDE B
1. The Rafles, "Danny's Garden" (Derby/Nadeau/Rafle) 3:20
2. Beauty Constant, "Sight to See" (C. Hahn) 4:36
3. Bleached Black, "You Couldn't Tell Me" (Stevo/Pryor) 3:22
4. SxOxMx, "Blind to Reality" (J. Robinson) 3:07
5. U Thant, "Little Chlorine" (J. Shapiro) 2:45
6. Cattle Collision, "Not to Mean" (P. Lee) 3:34
7. Senator Flux, "Southbound Trains" (D. Levine) 2:30


Some New Ruins: The Yale-New Haven Compilation

"The Compass & the Chart" Original song; words and music by Peter A. Rafle, Jr. 
Vocals, acoustic, electric, and bass guitars played by Pete Rafle. Drums arranged using Toontrack EZDrummer3, Keys arranged in EZKeys. Basic tracks recorded using a Tascam Model 12 multitrack mixer/recorder. Mixed and mastered in Reaper. 
Copyright 2022 Peter A. Rafle, Jr., all rights reserved

The Compass And The Chart (MASC 2022)

"Frog Sex Party," Original song; words and music by Peter A. Rafle, Jr. 
Vocals, acoustic, electric, and bass guitars played by Pete Rafle. Drums arranged using Toontrack EZDrummer3, Keys arranged in EZKeys. Basic tracks recorded using a Tascam Model 12 multitrack mixer/recorder. Mixed and mastered in Reaper. 
Copyright 2022 Peter A. Rafle, Jr., all rights reserved
Follow me on Soundcloud (@paparomeo), Instagram (@prsongsmith) and Youtube (@prsongsmith) for more original music!

FROG SEX PARTY PR (MASC 2022)

"What Have I Done?" Original song; words and music by Peter A. Rafle, Jr. 
Vocals, acoustic, electric, and bass guitars played by Pete Rafle. Drums arranged using Toontrack EZDrummer3, Keys arranged in EZKeys. Basic tracks recorded using a Tascam Model 12 multitrack mixer/recorder. Mixed and mastered in Reaper. 
Copyright 2022 Peter A. Rafle, Jr., all rights reserved

What Have I Done? (MASC 2022)

Birds Of Galway Bay (MASC 2022)

"Be A Star," Original song; words and music by Peter A. Rafle, Jr. 
This is my first attempt at mixing and mastering this song -- let me know what you think! All constructive feedback and suggestions welcome!
Vocals, acoustic, electric, and bass guitars played by Pete Rafle. Drums arranged using Toontrack EZDrummer3, Basic tracks recorded using a Tascam Model 12 multitrack mixer/recorder. Mixed and mastered in Reaper. 
Copyright 2022 Peter A. Rafle, Jr., all rights reserved
Follow me on Soundcloud (@paparomeo), Instagram (@prsongsmith) and Youtube (@prsongsmith) for more original music!

Memory and the Myth of History

Every February, I participate in the February Album Writing Project (FAWM) -- an online community of songwriters with a shared goal of writing 14 new songs in 28 days. This year, I logged 10 (including one collaborative effort "Analogman Rides Again" with @conorg and @rin). These are the demos I recorded for the nine solo compositions I created in February 2023. I hope you enjoy them. All words, music, and performances copyright Peter A. Rafle Jr. 2023, all rights reserved. Contact me with questions pete@rafle.net

This is the surprising result of a very unusual "Lord of the Flies" skirmish, in which the participants, noting that the host hadn't posted a prompt at the appointed hour, came up with their own meta prompt. I kinda like what I came up with!
Read all about it here: https://write.fawm.org/forums/944

#songskirmish, #skirmish ,#feast, #021123a

Lyrics
What Happens
SONG # 4 for FAWM 2023
February 11, 2023
© 2023 Peter A. Rafle Jr. All Rights Reserved

Why would you expect
anything to go
The way you somehow
thought it would
Just a little while ago.
So you’re waiting for a sign
You’re waiting for the word
Waiting in the wings
Just like waiting for a bird

The best laid plans
aren’t worth The scraps
they’re scribbled on in haste
People plan
The gods just laugh.
The paper goes to waste

PRE:
This is now
This is now
This is now
This is now

CHORUS:
This is now
What happens?
This is now
This is now
What happens
is what happens
And What happens
happens now

So you think you need someone else
To tell you what you see?
To tell you what to think?
To tell you what to be?

Well, let me tell you something
It’s tougher than you think.
They’ll throw you in the deep end
Just to see if you can sink.

There are no magic answers
Just a box of missing parts
Only one thing needs
To be added at the start
And that’s your desperate need
to share the pieces
of your broken heart.

PRE:
This is now
This is now

CHORUS:
This is now
What happens?
This is now
This is now
What happens
is what happens
And what happens
happens now

What Happens

My parents were married on the Winter's Solstice, which has been a running joke ever since. They'll celebrate their 60th anniversary this coming December.
#songskirmish #skirmish #feast #s020523 #acoustic_one_take #singer_songwriter #020523

Lyrics
A Winter’s Tale
SONG # 3 for FAWM 2023
February 05, 2023
© 2023 Peter A. Rafle Jr. All Rights Reserved

It was December twenty-first
Nineteen Sixty Three
On the north shore of the island
There was snow up to your knees

The dashing Navy pilot in
His sharpest formal blues
And the bride in lace and satin
All their family in the pews.

And as they said their solemn vows
Before their tear-proud mothers
Snow piled up outside
All the trees and cars were covered

Chorus:
It was the winter solstice
Outside the wedding hall
What better night to marry than
The longest night of all?

Inside at the reception
The toasts went round again
Advice and hopeful lessons
From the wisest of the men

The bridesmaids and the blushing bride
Were whispering together
About the handsome bridegroom
And the promise of adventure

It was the winter solstice
Outside the wedding hall
What better night to marry than
The longest night of all?

They danced like it was summer
The band was swinging like a gate
When the best man told the bridegroom
That it might be getting late.

And so they made their exit
Out into the snow
And what they might encounter
There was no way they could know.

It was the winter solstice
Outside the wedding hall
What better night to marry than
The longest night of all?

So that was how it started
And why we’re all here today
Sixty winters, sixty springs
Since that cold and snowy day

But the solstice is a turning point
A pendulum at night
And every day that follows
Brings a little bit more light

It was the winter solstice
Outside the wedding hall
What better night to marry than
The longest night of all?

A Winters Tale

Every February, I participate in the February Album Writing Project (FAWM) -- an online community of songwriters with a shared goal of writing 14 new songs in 28 days. This year, I logged 10 (including one collaborative effort "Analogman Rides Again" with @conorg and @rin). These are the demos I recorded for the 10 compositions I completed in February 2023. I hope you enjoy them. All words, music, and performances copyright Peter A. Rafle Jr. 2023, all rights reserved. Contact me with questions pete@rafle.net  
Liner Notes
Written and recorded in less than 60 minutes as part of a songwriting "skirmish". 
First skirmish of the year in the bag! There's something truly liberating about the urgency of getting to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible.
#songskirmish, #S020423a #letgo

Lyrics
Let It Go
#songskirmish, #S020423a
SONG #2 for FAWM 2023
February 04, 2023
© 2023 Peter A. Rafle Jr. All Rights Reserved

Sometimes you try to tell me
Let it go, let it go.
But baby, that’s the hardest thing to do.

The pain still seems so present
The wound still red and raw
The insult and the injury still new

I really want to do it
Let it go, let it go
But it’s so much easier said than done.

You see I’ve spent too much time
Just keeping it alive
To open up the cage and let it run

Isn’t there some tiny thing
You hold onto so tight?
Some regret?
Some memory?
Or some imagined slight?
Even though it hurts you?
Even though it bites?
Even though it wakes you
In the middle of the night?

So when you beg me sweetly
Let it go, let it go
I tell you that I’ll try but we both know

That I’ll keep it swaddled
Bottled up and sing to it at night
And tell it that I’ll never let it go.
And tell you that I’ll never let it go.
Let it go
And tell you that I’ll never let it go.
Let it go
And tell you that I’ll never let it go.

Let It Go

Liner Notes
I've been in a long dry spell. I haven't finished a new song in many months, so I felt drawn to the idea of #firstfruits this year. Here's my sincere and heartfelt prayer to the mysterious sources of creativity (and, in a near miraculous convergence, the song itself is the answer to my prayer...) May your FAWM feed your soul as it does mine! #guitar #singer_songwriter

Lyrics
SONG # 1 for FAWM 2023
February 1, 2023
© 2023 Peter A. Rafle Jr. All Rights Reserved

Spirit of fire
Rekindle my forge
Breath fill the bellows with wind
Dear perseverance
Find me the strength
To stand at the anvil again

Ruler of insight
Open my eyes
To see
art in the dark iron bar
Patience remind me
That time is my friend
That haste leaves the smith with a scar.

Mother of language
Don’t fail me now
Flow from my crucible cup.
Memory, memory
Fuel for this factory
Again from the ashes rise up.

Bridge:
Sweet inspiration
Gone away for so long
Return to this heart if you dare
Let hammer and tong
Chime anew into song
Let my fire be fueled with this
prayer

So spirit of fire
Kindle my forge
Breath, fill the bellows with wind

Dear perseverance
Find me the strength
To stand at the anvil again

Dear perseverance
Find me the strength
To stand at the anvil again
###

Invocation (The Songsmiths Prayer)

Sunnyvale

My parents were married on the Winter's Solstice, which has been a running joke ever since. They'll celebrate their 60th anniversary on December 21, 2023.  [I originally wrote and recorded this for FAWM in February, but re-recorded this today (with some lyrical tweaks) in honor of their actual anniversary!]

A Winter's Tale (re-recorded 12-21-2023)

“Transcendental Margaritas”
SONG # 8 for FAWM 2024
February 23, 2024
© 2024 Peter A. Rafle Jr. (All Rights Reserved)

Transcendental Margaritas
Are just the thing to soothe my soul
Tantric mantras and tequila
Together they might make me whole

It’s a mystic combination
Consciousness with a salty rim
Universal meditation
Fill my heart up to the brim

Everyone needs something to unwind
It’s the best retreat I think you’ll find
I’ve found a guru of another kind
Another glass of mindfulness my dear
if you don’t mind

Transcendental Margaritas
With enlightenment and lime
Come and take me to Nirvana
Namaste-ing here till closing time

Transcendental Margaritas
With enlightenment and lime
Come and take me to Nirvana
Namaste-ing here till closing time

Transcendental Margaritas

My house backs up to a 400-acre county park, with wooded trails and a lake. There's a 4 mile loop of multi-use trail that's used by hundreds of people every day, but if you sneak off into the woods, there's a network of less-travelled trails, including one I call "the Highline" that runs along the top of the mini-watershed at the southern end of the park, right next to the railroad tracks. It's hardly wilderness, but if you squint and use your imagination, you might fool yourself into thinking you were in some wild and wonderful landscape. Anyway, this song has been percolating in my mind for a while as I've walked those trails with Anya, my cocker spaniel, and I finally finished it. #acoustic_guitar #guy_with_guitar #folk #singer_songwriter

The Highline

Three studio recordings by bone., the band I played in from 1990-92 in New York City. Personnel: Christian Pschorr, guitar and vocals, Paul "Pauly V" Verna, guitars, Pete "Rah-Ko" Rafle, bass, Richard "Richard X" DeBonis, drums, and Frank "Frankie D" DiDonato, trumpet, flute, and assorted noises. These three tunes were featured on "Just Play," a 1992 compilation of Brooklyn based bands released as part of the "Brooklyn Beat" series.

04 (Something That You Did To My Heart Made) Me Go

Last Night (Fabiola)_2024-12-01

Shake The Cat_2_2024-12-07

I wrote this in 2018 in the middle of the hearings for a certain Supreme Court nominee. I kinda hoped I wouldn't still be singing it 7 years later, but sadly, it has only become more relevant. Today is Inauguration Day, and I decided it was time to record it and put it out in the world. You can find more of my music on Spotify and Apple Music under "Pete Rafle, Songsmith" and on Instagram, YouTube etc. at @prsongsmith.  Upright bass and vocals: Peter A. Rafle, Jr.; Piano: EXKeys2; Drums: EZDrummer3. Recorded and mixed by Peter A. Rafle, Jr. (All Rights Reserved)

Singing While the World Burns Down

Room Without Much of a View

In November 1985, Yale College sophomores Dave Derby (who would go on to front the Dambuilders, Brilliantine, and Gramercy Arms) and Pete Rafle (bone., Cooler Heads), with freshman drummer Nils Nadeau, recorded a nine-song demo in the basement of Morse College to capture the music they had been creating as "the rafles."  The recording was engineered and mixed by local substitute teacher Warren Byrne, and features appearances by Cory Margenau ("House off the Highway" and "Counting Down the Days") and Katy Koch (harmony vocals on "Oh, Mary" and "The Appropriate Thing"). Distributed originally only on individually dubbed cassette tapes, the demo has proven remarkably durable in the hearts, memories and playlists of those lucky enough to have a copy.  This new digital conversion was made by Pete Rafle himself from an original first generation cassette, and retains all the noise, musical mistakes and occasional drop-outs found on the 27-year-old source material. Digitized and mastered in Reaper (www.reaper.fm), with only a light application of multi-band compression.  All songs (c) 1985 Rafle/Derby/Nadeau.

RAFLES Remaster from Cassette

01 Little House Off the Highway

On the evening of February 3, 1986, the rafles (Dave Derby, Pete Rafle, Nils Nadeau, Ethan Shenkman, Eric Lederman, and Cory Margenau) lugged their gear to the studios of Yale's student-run radio station and performed a set for WYBC's "Music from the Swamp." Hosted by Thor Moser and Andreas Kraebber, the show also included an interview with the band, sadly not included on this recording.  The set list includes all the tunes featured on the 9 song demo released a few months prior, along with several other originals (for these songs, this tape represents the only known recording).  Digitized by Pete Rafle in 2012 from an off-the-air cassette recording made in a friend's Morse College dorm room, this file includes all the static, dead air, odd noises, and engineering malpractice from the original broadcast.  It also includes Derby's recurring entreaty to the audience -- "I hope you like it..."  

Song list:
Biggest Day of Your Life
Face Time
Do Svedaniya, Anya
The Sad Tale of Stephanie
Little House off the Highway
Hometown Girl Makes Good
Moon Over Madagascar
Almost Summer
Danny's Garden
(Ain't Gonna Be a) Fugitive No More
Shopping from a Catalog
Oh, Mary
(My Girlfriend's in the) Div School

Personnel:
Dave Derby - guitars, vocals
Pete Rafle - bass, vocals
Cory Margenau - vocals
Nils Nadeau - drums
Ethan Shenkman - keyboards
Eric Lederman - saxophone


RAFLES Live on WYBC from Cassette

UPDATED 4/27/2013 to restore Senator Flux track #7

SIDE B
1. The Rafles, "Danny's Garden" (Derby/Nadeau/Rafle) 3:20
2. Beauty Constant, "Sight to See" (C. Hahn) 4:36
3. Bleached Black, "You Couldn't Tell Me" (Stevo/Pryor) 3:22
4. SxOxMx, "Blind to Reality" (J. Robinson) 3:07
5. U Thant, "Little Chlorine" (J. Shapiro) 2:45
6. Cattle Collision, "Not to Mean" (P. Lee) 3:34
7. Senator Flux, "Southbound Trains" (D. Levine) 2:30


Some New Ruins B

SIDE A
1. Bleached Black, "Ecosong" (Stevo/Pryor) 2:45
2. U Thant, "Her Soul Arrives" (J. Shapiro) 3:40
3. Senator Flux, "(Walking the) Black Road" (D. Levine) 2:13
4. Cattle Collision, "Very Sorry Second Best" (P. Lee) 2:33
5. Beauty Constant, "Thursday Night" (S. Folta) 2:38
6. The Rafles, "The Biggest Day of Your Life" (Derby/Nadeau/Rafle)3:05
7. SxOxMx, "Life as it Is" (J. Robinson) 3:47


Some New Ruins A

Everything the rafles ever recorded, all in one set.  Includes their legendary 1985 demo "my favorite rafle," their February 1986 appearance on WYBC radio's "Music from the Swamp," and the two tracks included on the seminal April 1986 town-gown compilation "Some New Ruins."

Biggest Day of Your Life SNR

Danny's Garden SNR

Pete Rafle - aka PR Songsmith - is a Springfield, VA, based bassist, guitarist and singer-songwriter, whose goal is to make the world a little kinder and more connected, one song at a time.

Peter Rafle, Songsmith

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks