The following lyrics for the next few songs were written by Peter Terpstra.

Peter comes from a world of technology, television and systems, where looking closely and understanding how things work is his second nature. He observes, looks for what is really going on beneath the surface, and writes without much embellishment.

 

We first met more than 30 years ago through a professional working relationship. I regularly ran into problems with computers, MIDI and video, and Peter was the man who could always solve them. And he still is. Over the years, we became good friends.

It has always been a great pleasure for me to give something back to him by occasionally setting some of his remarkable texts and observations to music. Over the years, we discovered that words can sometimes do the same thing as music: say something you may have understood rationally for a long time, but never quite felt in that way before. 

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One of Peter's lines in particular has always stayed with me: “The question that woke me with a start: will you die before I do?”

That line still gives me chills. It touches something very deep in love: the fear that the person you love may one day no longer be there. Such a simple question, and yet it goes straight to the heart of it. Wow. And, honestly, phew.

Yes, his texts are often very direct and always evoke images and emotions in me. Very inspiring, as you will hear.

A small disclaimer: Marie Agnes is the only song that was fully completed. The others, unfortunately, remained first drafts.