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CHRIS SIMPSON’s ANNUAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Chris Simpson

Dear all,

It has been a long drawn-out year in terms of my health, but that does not mean to say you are out of sight out of mind.  Far from it!  But I do find that what used to be so easy has become somewhat different.  I have to say that I would be in a sorry situation without Cathy’s help.  She has a superb knack of hitting whatever problem it may be neatly on the head.

I don’t know how much I and we told you about the book which is currently being written about life as it has been on the Magna Carta road.  Given the author’s status of MC’s knowledge of the music business and our business in particular he has been much more than just an asset.  He is called Graham Chalmers and a high-flying journalist to boot!  He proposed a variety of meetings on the boat, on which he spent many hours and for which I am more than grateful.  We both worked from a premise of the published work and I would meet Graham every week through the year.  I think I was surprised at the regard he has for what I have written and in particular the actual construction of the material that appeared pretty well every week.  He found new approaches based on a re-appraisal of what has been in the press, for example, throughout the entire career of Magna Carta.  I will keep you all informed of the book’s progress in the coming months.

Meanwhile, I would take this opportunity to wish you all, no matter where you are in the world, a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Many of you have had a difficult year, as indeed the world seems to be having, but at times like this, we should take stock of all the good things we still have around us and look forward with optimism to a fresh, new and successful year ahead.

Before I close, a thought – I had forgotten the atmosphere of Magna Carta’s initial impact on the world of popular music, particularly an evening at the London Palladium with Princess Margaret (and Peter Sellers) in attendance of a song we played (three of us) that night that was the roots of so much.  Something dear to my heart, lyrics I had written on a Hebriddean island that we later recorded on the very first album.  These words seem very pertinent just now.  Sea and Sand:-

 

SEA AND SAND
Turquoise is the sea, 
Rolling deep beneath the sky 
Far above 
White winged are the gulls, 
Paper sailing on the wings of the wind 
Tomorrow is a word that never comes 
When the world is far behind you 
And the sea is turned to gold 
The sky is filled with white pillow clouds

Picture in your mind 
A world where you could wake 
And be alone 
Listen to the murmur of the water on the sand 
And you will know 
Time is never really on your side 
When you stop and look about you 
Then you’ll find you’re left behind 
With nothing but the Sea and the Sand

Lady of the clouds 
Has pulled her veil across the hillside 
Filled with rain 
The sea rolls like lead upon the sand 
Lying damp along the shore 
Tomorrow is a word that never comes 
When the tide runs in behind you 
And it plucks away your footsteps 
Nothing but the sea and the sand

 

With love,
Chris xxx