JUDITH RALSTON

One of my earliest memories is having breakfast in our little flat in Edinburgh with the radio on. It was my third or fourth birthday, and my mum said, “Listen, they’re playing your song on your birthday.” After that Hey Jude was always played on big occasions like my 18th or 21st birthday and at my wedding. It’s been the anthem of my life in a way.

If you hear Hey, Jude now, what does it bring to mind?

I see my mum, who died 18 years ago, as a young woman in the 1970s. Unlike me she was very fair-skinned and fair-haired. I see her in flared red trouser suit with gold buttons, and her hair in a long middle parting. She didn’t join in the singing herself, because she wasn’t very musical, but she used to take me to concerts. She was the one who guided me towards classical music and my first career as an opera singer.

Mahler – Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (from the Ruckert Lieder)

The first time I heard this song I was still at school. I was so struck by how beautiful it was. We used to live right on the seafront at Joppa in Edinburgh. I would put on the Janet Baker LP with this song on it, and sit at the window and watch the sea and emote. I had a huge capacity for emotion through music – it’s what I was able to express on stage as an opera singer.

Then in 1995 I lost my voice – I had a complete vocal breakdown – and this song was able to express my huge grief at not being able to sing any more. When I listened to it I could wrack those sobs out of my soul.

But the other thing about this song for me is that there’s a sense of calm in it. It makes me think, “Sit back, we have to let life do what it’s going to do.” The German meaning is “I am lost to the world”. But there’s something very positive about it. It reminds me I may have lost my career as a singer, but I went forward and became a BBC broadcaster and then a weather presenter, and had three wonderful children. The Herald has teamed up with Sally Magnusson, who set up Playlist for Life in 2013. The charity aims to make it possible for every person with dementia to have access to a playlist of personally meaningful music from their life, delivered via an iPod. Research has shown that meaningful music offers a key to unlocking individuality, to “bringing back” that person, as well as supporting family and wider social connections. See www.playlistforlife.org.uk

Have you created a playlist for a loved one? If so, email and tell us at sophiemclean@ymail.com