Terminally ill pick music to die for

It is a macabre question to contemplate: what music would you like to be playing as your life comes to an end?

Frank Sinatra’a version of My Way was the most requested song by the terminally ill.

It is a macabre question to contemplate: what music would you like to be playing as your life comes to an end?

Research has hailed the benefits of music in helping the dying to “connect with what it means to be human”, and it revealed Frank Sinatra’s My Way and Whitney Houston’s I will Always Love You were the top two songs favoured by those who were terminally ill.

Marie Curie, a British hospice charity, asked 1000 relatives about the playlists chosen by loved ones during end-of-life care. As well as power ballads, there were some jauntier tunes in the top 10, such as The Best by Tina Turner, which came in third, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper in fifth place.

Judy Garland’s Over the Rainbow came in fourth.

Marie Curie said music could play a “vital role in end-of-life care for many”, with 84 per cent of adults polled agreeing music relaxed and calmed their dying loved ones, and six in 10 saying it had helped to ease anxiety.

Other benefits cited by more than half included creating a shared experience that brought them closer.

Nearly one in three relatives said music helped to distract the dying from their symptoms.

Tracey McConnell, a music therapy expert at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “Terminal illness, pain and the fear of dying can result in feelings of powerlessness and isolation, even with close family and friends. Music therapy can help people to express their feelings and make them feel better, whatever their health or emotional situation.

“Sometimes, when something is impossible to express in words, music helps people ‘talk’ about how they’re feeling.”

The charity has released a playlist of the most popular songs for people at the end of their life.

The Times