I can’t believe that another year has passed! 2009 has been amazing on several fronts – the biggest change being moving in with my lovely partner Peter and moving out of Bristol to the countryside in Oxfordshire.

I became a grand-mother in Nov 2008 and it’s been a wonderful experience being a granny and also getting to know Peter’s grandchildren and family.

At the beginning of the year we spent three months in the Gambia helping to organise two festivals and during the summer we were involved in several amazing African drumming and dance events in the UK and also did a few short trips to France with Peter’s work.

The only downside was that having moved I have had to start my music activity pretty much from scratch and it’s been really difficult and scarey going to pubs and open mics where I don’t know anyone and also not having Paddy to play keyboards with me has been something I’ve really missed terribly. I’ve also really missed my Bristol friends and my mum, though I have managed to get back to Bristol regularly.

It’s taken me all of the last six months to get over the effects of the car crash I had in June – it left me with awful flashbacks and nightmares which have only recently stopped.

In 2010 I’m determined to concentrate more on my music, find one or two local people to play music with me, join a local tennis group to get fit again and start recording a second album.

We’re off to the Gambia again on January 5th for three weeks but I don’t intend to do such a long trip as this year’s again as it bit too much into my own life, although it was a wonderful experience.

Anyway – I hope everyone has a brilliant New Year’s Eve and a great 2010 – tell me what your hopes are for this coming year!

I have finally written a new song – it may well not make sense to most people who read it ha ha! It’s a mad reggae number and I’ll put an audio version up soon – maybe on Myspace if I can do a good enough recording.

Before You Were Born

Floating on the ceiling looking down at my bed
Saw myself lying there as if I was dead
Couldn’t move a muscle, couldn’t open my eyes
My feet were in the kitchen but my head was in the skies

You don’t need drugs to have hallucinations
You don’t need drugs to have hallucinations

Travelling in my van in nineteen seventy-three
I heard the sunset singing in Germany
The swaying corn joined in in perfect harmony
My heart and soul took flight, I had set them free

You don’t need drugs to have hallucinations
You don’t need drugs to have hallucinations

At Glastonbury Festival (the very first one)
Rolling in the mud in nineteen seventy-one
I was the acid queen of Bristol
Way before you were born…

(Break)

Climbing up the Avon Gorge to have a cup of tea
I thought there was a café at The Observatory
Snowflakes on the ground that were as big as your hand
As if some God Almighty, had waved his magic wand

You don’t need drugs to have hallucinations
You don’t need drugs to have hallucinations

If life is but a dream what is reality?
Hope I find the answer deep inside of me
If life is but a game what is reality?
Hope I find the answer deep inside of me

You don’t need drugs to have imagination
You don’t need drugs to have communication
You don’t need drugs to have realisation
You don’t need drugs to have illumination

At Glastonbury Festival (the very first one)
Rolling in the mud in nineteen seventy-one
I was the acid queen of Bristol
Way before you were born
Before you were born
Before you were born….

© Chandra Moon – December 2009