Peter Broderick – http://www.itstartshear.com

Everything I Know

  • Everything I Know
Peter Broderick
guitar, voice
Nils Frahm
piano
Friedrich Störmer
upright bass
Katinka Vindelev
voice

In spring 2009 I was on tour with Efterklang. We played in New York at a place called the Mercury Lounge, where I came across something peculiar while sitting on the toilet. On the door in front of me were written the words ‘You’re probably stupid.’

The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this was that it’s probably true. I probably am stupid. At least that’s what half of me was thinking. The other half of me was thinking how unfair that is, to call people stupid without showing the other side of the story. How amazing and beautiful people can be. So I snuck back in there with a marker and added one more sentence to balance it out.

At the time I had already been working on this song, but I only had words for the chorus, which was basically about feeling stupid. It seemed a perfect fit to make the rest of the song about this little toilet vandalism story.

Every time I’ve seen writing on the wall
Those rooms with a sink and a stall
I never liked it
I never liked it at all
Unconsciously I made myself a vow
Unconsciously I never thought of now
What I never thought I’d do
I’m gonna do it and then take a bow
Only thing I know
Everything I know is small
Yeah the only thing I know
Everything I know is small
There’s a metal door in front of me
Words in black marker, one two three
As usual I don’t like it
Still I can’t help but agree
It’s true but it’s incomplete
I grab my pen and try to be discreet
Another one of my little battles
That just ended in defeat
Only thing I know
Everything I know small
Yes the only thing I know
Everything I know is small
Only thing I know
Everything I know is small
Yeah the only thing I know
Everything I know is small
And when you’ve been behind so long
Catching up just seems impossible
Because the way you go
It is the only way you know
And so rather than find a new path
You just stick to the one you’re on
Even though you know
Even though you know
Even though you know
It’s wrong

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81 Comments on “Everything I Know”

Peter L.

commented on

Hey Peter B,

just listening to these tunes and I just love it. I accidentally found out that I must have bought your 4 Track Songs without matching that piece with this one :)

Would you ever come to play to Slovakia? :) All the best!

Peter L.

Adam Burke

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Mr. Broderick, You are a very talented kind soul. . . Why you are not more recognized for this is beyond me! Just wanted to let you know you are appreciated!!! If you have the time please take a break and take a look at my video and listen to my music?

https://youtu.be/q6SnHlCspMo

Thomas

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Haha, best ever. You truly make the world a better place, balancing things out.

Antzo Loren

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Thanks for this song! I love it

Cheers from Spain

Darío Z

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There is no place to put general conclusions! xD But I will place some in here: The initiative of this project is wonderful and I personally appreciated a lot. I think the artist should be in touch with the audience, people to people connection.
I’ve been also thinking how differently you understand songs… from me. But maybe, to describe a bit more the concept I will need a full blog hahaha, so I let it there.
Keep rocking =)!

One love!

Arthur Lobo Vieira

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hey, peter, this song is beautiful mate. It has something of perfection of notes and harmony that i believe is where music trespass its boundaries and become something more. Amazing!

Wayne B.

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Just finished the film “The Happy Sad” and waited through all of the credits to match up the song “Seeing Things” with you. Is it available to purchase anywhere because the little bit in the film was awesome?

Peter Broderick

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hi wayne! that song has not been released elsewhere yet . . . but i’m sure at some point it will come out. maybe not until next year though… thank you!

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Luke

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Hello, just wondering whether there’s any way of listening to the dwars version in the lower key? I can’t find it any more.
Thanks

Peter Broderick

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hmmm . . . i had forgotten about that version! thanks for the reminder . . . but unfortunately i don’t have a copy of the recording and i can’t seem to find it anywhere either… sorry!

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Steve

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Peter can you please show me where that video is of you, Nils and Heather playing this song?? That was an INCREDIBLE performance. I think it used to be on this site.

Thank you!

Peter Broderick

replied on

well, if you click the little kitty at the bottom right of this page, right above the comment section, you will find a video of four songs from this album performed live, and this song is the last one in that video . . . although i’m not exactly sure if that’s what you mean, as the girl in that video is my friend laura, not heather…

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Donta

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There’s this song I really like which I believe is by you, called Seeing Things. I can’t seem to find it anywhere but I think it’s amazing.

Peter Broderick

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hi!

that song is from a score i did for a film called “the happy sad” . . . but the score was never released. i’m curious where you might have heard it?

p

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Arthur

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I don’t feel like you can’t find another way. As I like to think, constantly searching fir another better way is what is called wisdom =)

Peter Broderick

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well said. thank you!

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andreea

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thank you and much love

Isula

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Thanks Peter! Finally had a chance to listen to this record and enjoyed it . Cheers from the Forest…

Frank

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Wow……….

Nathan

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Thank you for writing this song it is a truly amazing song. I laughed when i found out you were inspired to write this song when you were taking a crap… Anyways i just spent the summer in alaska and had an amazing experience living up there. I got really obsessed with efterklang at the end of the summer and that ultimately led to me discovering your solo music (which im also obsessed with) This song has really brought me back to those wonderful nights in alaska where the sun never set and i was staying up late listening to your music. Thank you for the memories and the emotions.

Paul

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Amazing…

Moe

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I’m lying here with my head phones on and I keep listening to this song over and over and over again. I can’t say why but it just really makes me sad. But I keep listening over and over again. . . . Even though you know. . . .

bOJAN

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Hi Peter,

I was introduced to your song this weekend by a friend and I’m impressed since with your innovative minimal like yet so full sound and your profound yet simple for the heart to understand lyrics…I was listening to this song whole weekend on repeat and it was remedy for my state of heart’s mind…I just had to shoot out my feelings and when I saw today about posting thoughts here I decided to share it… Thanx much for sharing your world with us.

All the best, bOJAN.

http://bojanradin.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/its-true-but-its-incomplete/

Mat

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Man, you’re album is really good ! What an original idea this website is ! I’ll share it ! The music video of “It Starts Hear” is awesome ! +

eliana

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I read and listen you carefully.
After all this, Peter,
I feel like I know you
‘And that’s why I’ll go silent’

this is for you
SDC13436. la unica foto antes de que la cámara se me cayera de las manos contra  el piso  :/

hugs
e,

Peter Broderick

replied on

lovely, thank you <3

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Jack

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Thanks for this Peter, Greatings from México.

Tyler Robbins

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Hey Peter, Tyler from Alabama. Thought I’d add to your wall.

The Few people that appreciate music like yours is far and in between. Your subtle sounds and words are very deep and meaningful even if not meant to be. Your music is beautiful to me. Thank you. :)

Terry

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No one’s left a comment, which surprises me. I’m going to because I want you to know how this song makes me feel.
Here’s my comment, you might like it, but then again you might not, it depends on what you wanted me to feel.
It’s a strange feeling because lyrically it feels sad, but the music makes me feel nice, kind of shiny as if I’ve reached some kind of conclusion to an answer I’ve been looking for, for a long time.

That’s my comment, I’m sorry if it’s not the best, or worthy of being the first one here, but it’s up now.

Terry

replied on

That threw me off, it’s not the first comment, there are a lot, I was just so engrossed in the song that I didn’t scroll down. I am probably stupid, but I’m still beautiful

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Peter Broderick

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hehe! thanks!!

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Ronan

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My little 1-year old boy falls asleep every night listening to Hello Nils.

He claps his little hands together with the opening strum as he is so happy to hear it.

I sang Everything I Know to him yesterday but when I sang the “Ohhhhhh” bit at the end, he cried because he was scared.

It was probably my singing though.

I am hoping he grows up to love music as much as me.

Amy

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Kylie

Oliver

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Aren’t you supposed to be dead before forensics outline your body with chalk? Or am I looking at the happiest corpse in crime scene history?

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Peter Broderick

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ha! that’s a very happy corpse.

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Daisy Chen

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Hey Peter.I’m a Chinese girl and I have to say that your album is amazing~I like the way you put the songs on website and I read your stories which makes me feel like I’m so close to music.
I like the experience.

Have fun with your friends!
I enjoy it very much.

barbryn

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Discovered this website this morning. Have been blown away by the quality of the music, the stories behind the songs, the generosity of the concept and the positivity of the comments. Not only one of the best albums I’ve heard this year: it’s also made me feel better about the human race. Thank you.

Hannah Davis

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Such a good website, such a good story behind the song.

I liked this one I found in a bar toilet the other week:

thefuturetoilet

Peter Broderick

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great!

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Alex

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Hi Peter, this is the first time I’ve heard your music, but I just wanted to say I really loved the concept of this site as the album. I love how much closer it brought me to the music to be able to read your thoughts on each song as I listened, and I really hope it becomes a trend with other musicians (though your sweetness & sincerity probably makes you more qualified to do it than most). It starts here! :)

Ronan

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Beautiful song, just beautiful.

craig

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Hey Peter
I keep coming back to this song ‘Everything I know’, i heard the version with just you and Nils on Piano ages ago and fell in love with it, i emailed you about the lyrics and you should it was weird as you were just typing them out for the record sleeve. I then heard this version on your album and wasn’t keen on the backing vocals and polished production but somehow its now the version i listen to the most. I kind of like the fact that i have been allowed access to a small part of the process that you go through when creating a song before its finally finished ready for public consumption. I asked Nils last Year when he thought his recording of The Sportler will be released and he guessed 3 years! I think i appreciate the craftmanship that goes into these recordings more than i ever did before and the fact you can’t rush the process when creating a great record. keep up the good work, i buy most of your stuff on vinyl but don’t always get round to listening to it straight away, but when i do its fantastic. do you think you may be touring this album in London at all? thanks

Amy

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I’ve spent my day drawing and listening to music, your music in particular and I just had to say Thanks; you made a rainy, much needed day off work so much better. I love drawing and sewing, and I’m good at it, but somehow I always seem to work in crazy busy uncreative administrative jobs that do their best to sap my creative energy. Music like yours and web-album concepts like this (so awesome; so inspiring) keep the creative energy burning, and for that alone I thank you.
http://onlinesketchpad.wordpress.com/

eric

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Nice addition to the wall. I feel a certain sense of satisfaction knowing you did that.

Stephan Söderberg

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Hoo Peter!

This is your most complete record jet and this song totalt melt my hart.
THANKS Peter for your wonderful music!

(((♡)))

cheers/Stephan

Benjamin van Vliet

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That photo, with those words on the toilet wall, should have been the album cover, if you’d ask me :)

Willoughby Jones

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I heard this listening to show in The U.K called BBC6 Music, which is a fantastic radio station. Massive fan of this tune, a real cracker. If you fancy reading my review of the album check out my blog on: http://amongstsounds.blogspot.co.uk/. Thanks!

gks

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억누르고 있던 감정까지 흔들리게 하네요 이 감정들을 어떻게 풀어야할지 감당이 안되네요 슬프고 긴장되고 혼란스럽고 흥분되네요

Sian

commented on

‘And when you’ve been behind so long
Catching up just seems impossible
Because the way you go
It is the only way you know
And so rather than find a new path
You just stick to the one you’re on
Even though you know
Even though you know
Even though you know
It’s wrong’

I was listening to this song yesterday on a train headed for the airport, and I literally froze when I heard these words. I don’t remember the last time I identified so strongly with song lyrics, and I listened to the same few lines several times as I headed in a direction I didn’t especially want to be going. I’d be more specific but it would sound silly, so instead I’ll just say thank you again, Peter, for writing such beautiful songs.

Peter Broderick

replied on

lovely, thank you sian.

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Dave

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Re. the Dwars version – yeah, you really were scraping the bottom of your vocal range barrel with the last bit “And so rather than find a new path…”, haha.

You also aired I Am Piano for the first time, I think, on that recording. And then you make me wait two and a half goddamn years for the album. You’re such a tease…

Peter Broderick

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hey, i had to wait all that time too!! ;-)

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m.

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peter, you are for sure getting inspiration from strangest places and situations that you find yourself in! maybe for you it can’t be anything but that so keep exploring & translating what you see into melodies for all of us who like it..

Dave

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Peter – oh my, this album just gets better and better with every listen. I’ll admit to being sceptical about the whole ‘album is a website, website is an album’ idea at first but boy does it work! It’s such a personal album, every song is so great and so ‘you’. I now have a lovely story in my mind for each and every track, and to be able to interact with you in this way is just wonderful.

And this amazing song… I’ve been listening to it repeatedly since first hearing it on your Dwars Radio session with Nils way back in June 2009, so to hear it now in all its glory is just such a joy that I can’t put into words that would do it justice.

Much love to you Peter, and to Nils and Heather and all the incredible musicians that you play with.

x

Peter Broderick

replied on

oh yeah, the dwars version must have been the first time it was recorded! i remember i had forgotten my capo that day, so i had to play the song in a much lower key . . . funny.

thanks for coming around to the whole album and concept! believe me, i’ve been skeptical about it myself sometimes ;-)

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Elliott Michael Clayton

commented on

Peter, Peter, Peter!!! Wow!!! I too am a person who rarely leaves comments on such things but this whole project is sublime. The idea of a website album is great and unusual and i love how you explained the purpose of each song in such an intriguing way, that brings the album a whole new meaning and i believe im about to head onto amazon to make a little purchase haha! Keep being so brilliantly creative, this is an album i have to own, it spoke to me in every note and lifted my heart this morning and im sure it will go on to do so, i should love to see you live playing these amazing songs and it would be an experience im sure to meet you, defo an album to share with my fiance.
Thanks Peter

Peter Broderick

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lovely, thanks elliot!

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mel

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up late listening to every track, having just discovered your poetic music and way of working. I will listen to this for inspiration as I create my books : )
59

Peter Broderick

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love this photo!

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Craig

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hi Peter
I emailed you around November last year to ask you about the track everything I kn w and if you were going to release it, you replied pretty quickly and said you were just typing out the lyrics for song as it was going to come out on an album. well I just listened to the track through this site and it’s a more polished sound enhanced by the harmony but I love it I also really like that you have the lyrics and background to the song on the site. keep up the good work and hope to see you perform in London sometime. regards craig

Ajay Sawant

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Hi Peter,

Congrats to you & your team on this inventive effort :)

Now, i know the stories behind each song even before i buy this CD album. And, its been +1 hour well spent on the net immersed in music, getting to know the likes of Colin, Matthew Andre Brown,…amongst other things that you shared with us.

I quite enjoy HOME – Special Edition 2CD Set & hope to see your live performance one day with Nils Frahm. Whenever you decide to tour asia, do think of Bombay, India.

Thanks for the music :) & All the best for the future.

Michael Ball

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Listened to the album for the first time this morning driving to work from Liverpool to Manchester (UK). Didn’t notice the journey ( which is normally dreadful) Got to this track just as I was about to arrive and had to take a detour to make sure I heard it all before I got out of the car. Lovely song. Thank you.
Also thank Nils for us for playing in the Swedish Church in Liverpool in December last year. Such a great atmosphere in a very small space. You should give it a try when you are next over here.

Pierre

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Hey dear Peter, warm congratulations for this amazing and beautiful work you are sharing here.

This beautiful song “Everything I Know” is getting me back in the past with so strong (and some sad) memories. All that story of music and friendship that started when we met in Berlin, when you played after at the confiserie with Nils (who was almost perfectly unknow then) and all the shows and meeting after. Thanks you so much for having recorded this !

Note : I found the video at the Confiserie also !

See you soon !

Pierre

admin

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Edit: Made the links work. Hope you don’t mind. This thing behaves strangely when the links are inside a paragraph.

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FreddieLeeFroth

commented on

Well thank you Peter for giving me a fantastic evening sat here surprising me with something I certainly wasn’t expecting … I thought i’d have a quick look at this website then go to bed cos up early in the morning but here I am still sat listening & loving it, all of it, the sad bits, the sweet bits & even the bits about lavatory graffiti … X

Peter Broderick

replied on

i so appreciate all your comments freddie . . . thanks for adding so much to the site, to the album.

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Anna

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I hope we are just on a continuum to better places with more beauty.

Michael Engelbrecht

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There are some very interesting passages and pieces that remind me of atmospheres of the wonderful Arthur Russell. I feel the inspiration, no copy mode. What I really find stunning is that the songs of the album touch very different areas and grounds, nevertheless i don’t have the impression of any incoherence. It’s a living thing.

P

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been on there for the last 2 hours, browsing, reading and listening to every single thing I could browse, read and listen to… thanks ever so much for that.
I usually don’t leave comments, but I needed to add this one : you, and nils, and oli, you’ve kept me alive. literally. you did, you still do.
it’s been a long time since i last saw you, Peter… 2009… 9th of september… Academy 3… spiders on a poster made you talk about some kind of phobia, back then… time flies…
I’m not a believer, but there’s a place near Manchester UK, called the Sacred Trinity Church… well… hope I can see the 3 of you in there some time… after a night like this, I think I could live forever.
anyway… there’s no better page to end up on than this one…
thanks.
i hope i see you soon…
P

Peter Broderick

replied on

p . . . thanks so much for your words. especially since you don’t usually leave comments. really nice to hear you went through the whole site… i remember that night in manchester. and i’ve heard of the sacred trinity church . . . maybe i’ll make it there someday!

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Triona Maddick

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Stunning!!!! I saw you at St Giles’s cathedral in London last year – you were phenomenal. It’s so wonderful you have remerged with some beautiful new sounds. You are so incredibly talented!!! Thank you for making the music available :)

jon

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I’ve been on the wrong path far too long
But I keep trotting on
Because I don’t want things to fall apart

carre

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Una vez más, muchas gracias por tu música Peter. Me encanta el concepto del disco, la página web, las canciones. Ojalá no tarde mucho en disfrutar de uno de tus conciertos.

Everything I Know ;)
songs

martin

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I love you.

nico

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stupid? i feel identified.

A "hearer"

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One link, one click,
One website, one album.
10 songs I’ve just listened to,
10 songs I’ve just fallen in love with.

Thank you.

Dancer

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“Worth were the words that writers wrote,
slamming on dearest finger pointing and cold sweat faults,
marking those that yelled in feared silence,
filled with future sight.”

Keep inking your words in music, dear sir.
From this side, I’ll keep on enjoying it.
Thank you.

Seán Owens

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just read a review of your new album and to be honest I hadnt heard of you until I saw your review in the Sunday Times. Best of luck with this clever concept

Go n-éirí go geal leat le do cheol agus ag Dia atá fhios, b’fhéidir go dtiocfaidh tú go hÉirinn amach anseo.

Beir bua

Seán (from Éire)

Se

Edvinas

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Peter is such a rare musician these days. He’s very unique and interesting person, who has a lot of interesting and sometimes strange ideas. Every song is very personal, thats the most important thing, a lot of musicians had forgotten. I’m so happy of somehow being a part of this beautiful journey of a talented man. I’m dreaming of seeing him live and saying honest thank you.