Judith Durham sings "Seldom Melbourne Leaves My Mind" from In Melbourne Today in 1990.
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00:00Five months ago, we were all terribly shocked when Judith Durham was in a shocking accident
00:11on the Calda Highway, but the one thing that's come out of all this now is her great rapid
00:16recovery and she looks absolutely fantastic. She joins us today, five months later, Judith
00:21Durham. Hi Judith, welcome back. Terrific to see you. Thank you. Isn't it funny how
00:29things can just happen like that? Yeah, it is. Well, you know, it's a long time we've
00:33been on the road and I guess we've been very lucky all these years that nothing serious
00:36has really happened, but a lot of good things have come out of it so early, really. It's
00:41just been amazing. There's nothing, it's never all so-called bad, it seems, and I was pretty
00:46ready to accept it. You know, I decided, right, this has happened and so I'll just go through
00:50it and try and make it a happy experience. Right, you've got the right mental attitude.
00:53I hope to, yes. Mind you, everybody's flowers, including yours, really helped. You know,
00:58I had a very big advantage from other people, so many well-wishers, people who were really
01:03trying to boost their spirits, and I think that's made a huge difference. As to how you...
01:08How I came through it, oh, definitely. Much quicker. Yes, I think so. I think that, you
01:13know, if you can have positive energies when you're going through something, it's got to
01:15help your body and all that. You were telling me before the show that even though your injuries
01:21were horrific, there's a lot of people worse off than you. You know, you came across all
01:25these people. Oh, yes, Ernie, I think it's been a blessing, actually, to sort of have
01:31this experience in the middle of my life, because so many of my fans, and probably yours
01:35too, they write to you. They may be in wheelchairs or they've had some terrible thing happen
01:39to them, and you can't really sort of put yourself in their shoes quite the same. You're
01:44looking from the other side now. Oh, yes, I mean, really. And they're always, people
01:48with really great spirit, you know, they'll come through it, and they'll be looking at
01:51somebody else who's worse off than they are. There's always somebody who's worse off. Yes,
01:54and it's just marvellous. So, you know, I'm really glad to have been able to see that
01:59side of life, and be able to count my blessings even more than I have done before. Ron was
02:03saying, I was talking to Ron, and he said that you broke your wrist, and you're afraid
02:08to never play the piano, and he walked in one day, and then you're in the wheelchair
02:10playing the piano. Yes, well, it was fantastic. The place where I've been going, and I still
02:16am going, for rehabilitation, have two old pianos, and when I walked in and I saw it
02:22there, you know, at first I was dying to get on it, and then I thought, oh gosh, what's
02:25it going to be like, you know, and then actually it was better than I expected, and my hand
02:30is really, I mean, I've got my full use, so I can play as quickly as I like, but I'm still,
02:35that's my normal octave span, so every day they're really helping me work at that, and
02:39getting the stretch back. So how long will you have to keep going? Probably at least
02:43till Christmas, not on a full time basis, I'm going four days a week at the moment,
02:48it's like a nine to five job, literally, but round about then, maybe, you know, I'd be
02:53reviewed and go a bit less, but it is a long process, because although, you know, you lose,
02:57I don't know whether a lot of people realise, but when you are laid up, when something's
03:01immobilised, because I had a thing sticking out of this, you know, I've got a metal thing
03:05sticking out of my arm, and that means that the hand is absolutely rigid for eight weeks,
03:09and when you do that, it's the stiffness that you've got to get rid of, your bone's healed
03:13alright, but everything's stiffened up, you see, and so that takes, I mean, just to do
03:17that, that's a miracle, really, I mean, when I first came it was just like that, you know,
03:22and you get so grateful for just even that much pain. And when you start doing it, are
03:25you in pain when you first start to do it? Oh yes, yes, I sort of scream blue murder
03:30every now and then, you know, because you've got to, it's the only way, and that's why
03:33it's so important to have a good therapist. I was going to say, have you got a renewed
03:37respect for the nurses and people? Definitely. I saw it with Dad, when Dad was in Kew Yonge
03:44Road there, and they do a marvellous job, because it really is a one-to-one basis, isn't
03:48it, with trying to, did you actually have to learn to walk again? Yes, oh, I'm still
03:53learning, actually I took my first steps at home, just trying not to use a stick or a
03:58crutch in the weekend, and I've put on high heels for your benefit. I love it, I love
04:04it, good on you. Not that I can walk too far, I mean, everybody's, yeah, good on you. So
04:09yes, I thought, well, you know, why not just get in the feel of it again, because I've
04:13got the concerts coming up, I'm doing the first concert next Friday. Next Friday night
04:17at the? The John Bateman Theatre, it's in the World Trade Centre. Reach of the Sky.
04:21Reach of the Sky, yes, and it's in a really good cause, because it's been aided by the
04:25RAAF veterans, and I thought, well, I can't really put on the full evening dress and then
04:29the sort of runners or something, yeah. They're getting used to high heels. They're getting
04:32used to them, yeah, but I should be pretty right by the time the next concert's come
04:36up, which is a couple of weeks after that, I'm doing some Thank You Melbourne concerts
04:40in Kilburn. Because just before, well, it was the night before, the day of the accident,
04:45I read this fantastic review on your concert down there, at the? At the? Palace. No, not
04:52at the Palace, at the National Theatre, saying all the standing ovations, how great you were
04:57and all that, and you had a terrific season, didn't you? Oh, oh, absolutely. All your concerts
05:00have been terrific. It was wonderful, yes, and that particular night, I was saying to
05:04Ron after it, I've never quite had that experience, I've had some, they've been marvellous nights
05:09all round, we've had standing ovations, all the different ones we've done, but there was
05:12something about the feeling of the way I was singing that night, it was as if I wasn't
05:15really making the noise myself, it was as if the sound was sort of coming through me,
05:19you know, and really the whole thing just took off, and we were about, oh, there must
05:23have been three standing ovations, literally, we were still on stage at ten past eleven,
05:27it was like a three hour show, and talk about go out with a bang, you know, I mean, had
05:31we known the accident was going to happen the next day, it wasn't a bad way to finish
05:34up, you know, and so it'll be actually six months to the very day, it was the 19th of
05:40May that I performed there last time, and it'll be the 19th of December to do the first
05:44matinee there, next time. So you're going to get back right into it again, going touring
05:48and all? November, sorry, I said the wrong thing. So you're going to go right back into
05:54full-time work again after December, depending on your health? I'd like to keep doing spasmodic
06:00shows, but I'm not going to undertake a whole national tour until probably March. Take it
06:04easy. Yes, I think, they tell me I'll be tired, and I do find that I've never slept so long,
06:09sometimes eight, nine hours a night. Do they use, in your therapy, do you use water at
06:13all, like baths, or do you swim or anything like that? Swimming, yes. That'd be good for
06:17you, wouldn't it? Yes, they had a hydrotherapy pool, and three days a week I go in that,
06:22which isn't to go and do laps, it's to do your exercising for the resistance of the
06:26water, and that was the first place I walked without crutches, because the water's holding
06:30you up, you see, and you hold your husband's hand too, don't we, Ron? Ron, he was laid
06:35up for three months, wasn't he? Yes, he was. He had a broken knee and quite a few broken
06:39ribs, but he healed very, very quickly, and they booted him out of hospital as quick as
06:43they could. He's just shown me before he's doing the jogging bit. Oh, absolutely. He
06:48really has had a remarkable healing. They thought he should be six months before he
06:51could try to run, and he can actually try to run now. Oh, that's great. Well, we wish
06:55you all the best, everybody. Are you going to do a song for us? Yes, we'd love to. Well,
06:59I'd like to do the song about Melbourne, because I want to say thank you, Melbourne, for everything.
07:03Did you realise you had so many fans? No, Ernie, I truly didn't. It's been just wonderful.
07:08Well, you are Australia's sweetheart of song. They've been for years and will be for a long
07:12time. Oh, thank you. Good on you. Hurray! Judith. Judith. Hello, Ernie. Back again,
07:26and you're going to... Now, what's the name of the song? Seldom Melbourne Leaves My Mind.
07:31Now, when did you write this? I wrote it in 1972, actually. Long time ago, and it was
07:36the first song of all the cities... I've done all the cities around Australia now, but
07:40Melbourne was the first one. You were homesick. Were you homesick when you wrote it? Yes,
07:43that's right. We were in America, yes, driving across America, and all the places there,
07:48they had songs written about them, or they had film titles. That's true, yeah. Everything.
07:52You know, we'd go through Cheyenne and Laramie, all these places. Proud of their towns, aren't
07:55they? That's right, and I thought, you know, I mean, this was so long ago, of course, but
07:59I don't often have a chance to sing it, and I thought with the Thank You Melbourne concerts
08:02coming up, it would be a very appropriate thing to do. All right. And Ron on the piano,
08:06thank you. And how are you, Ron? You're looking well, mate. Oh, I'm very good, thanks. Back
08:09to jogging on the spot and everything, cheers for so? Good on you. One day round the park,
08:13I hope. Aye, good on you. Lovely to see you again. Here she is, Judith Durham and her
08:17husband, Ron, with Seldom Melbourne Leaves My Mind. Hooray!
08:32Seldom Melbourne leaves my mind Though I leave her far behind
08:53So many miles between When other cities I have seen
09:03Just make her memory clean I know no dearest town I'd find
09:15Seldom Melbourne leaves my mind Her yarrow waters blow me wine
09:36And when my work is done I'll paint my face out in the sun
09:47I may find fault with some But seldom Melbourne
10:05Those many miles between When other cities I have seen
10:30Just make her memory clean I know no dearest town I'd find
11:01And when my work is done I'll paint my face out in the sun
11:14I may find fault with some But seldom Melbourne
11:30Seldom Melbourne
12:00I may find fault with some But seldom Melbourne
12:20I may find fault with some But seldom Melbourne
12:50I may find fault with some But seldom Melbourne
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