Buddy's Song (novel)

Buddy's Song

Cover of the first edition.
Author	Nigel Hinton
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Teenage fiction
Publisher	J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd (original), Heinemann, Puffin Books, CB Creative
Publication date	28 May 1987
Media type	Hardback, Paperback, E-book (USA only),
ISBN
Preceded by	Buddy
Followed by	Buddy's Blues

Buddy's Song is a novel by British author Nigel Hinton which was first published in 1987. It is the second instalment in the Buddy trilogy, between Buddy and Buddy's Blues, and follows the story of Buddy as he started to pursue a musical career. The book was adapted into a film, directed by Claude Whatham and starring Roger Daltrey and Chesney Hawkes as Terry and Buddy respectively, in 1990.

Whilst visiting the set in the television series based on the first book the author asked why they put a guitar in Buddy's bedroom. The set designer explained that he figured Terry got Buddy a guitar then he gave up when he could not play it. Hinton liked the idea and worked from there.

The story begins with fourteen-year-old Buddy Clark going to visit his father Terry in prison with his mother Carol but Buddy could not get round to seeing him. Between Buddy's first two visits to the prison Des King paid a visit to his house offering them an envelope full of £50 notes as an apology for getting Terry imprisoned but Carol refused to take it. In a maths lesson on the last day of term in school Buddy found a note that read 'Debbie+Buddy=Love'. Buddy supposed it was referring to Debbie Bishop in his class and he became infatuated with her but he later learned it was a joke from his friend Julius Rybeero. Buddy got bored over the summer holiday with the Rybeero twins visiting relatives in the West Country and having nothing to do so he got a job sweeping up at a depot.

One day he found the old guitar Terry gave him for his twelfth birthday and decided to start playing it. When he got his first week's wages Buddy bought new strings for the guitar along with two music books and a pitch pipe to help him tune it. Buddy got a letter from Charmian Rybeero to say that they would be moving out with their father setting up a new taxi firm with his brother. Carol received a letter from Terry saying he wanted them to sell his Harley-Davidson motorbike because he did not want it getting rusty although Buddy polished and oiled it all the time. Buddy learned on his fifteenth birthday it was to buy a cassette recorder so he could record himself playing the guitar. Buddy recorded himself singing and playing and gave the cassette to his father for Christmas.