The Song Is You

Julian Donohue’s iPod carries the soundtrack of his life: from songs of his youthful exploits to ballads of his family’s collapse. Julian battles a nameless longing until he sees the young Irish rock singer, Cait O’ Dwyer and realizes he can be her muse. In The Song Is You (2009), American author Arthur Phillips presents a clever, bittersweet love story inspired by the power of music. The Song Is You is filled with lyrical references and allusions. The novel was a 2009 St. Francis College Literary Prize Nominee.

Julian Donahue is a middle-aged advertising director living in New York City. His two-year-old son, Carleton, died a year ago of tragic complications from an ear infection. In their grief, Julian and his wife, Rachel drifted apart: she sought solace in a series of affairs. Now, the two are separated. Julian had not been faithful to the marriage before having Carlton; he had casual flings with models, struggling actresses, and interns who worked with him on his commercial shoots. Feeling alone, Rachel is open to repairing their relationship and moving on. Julian feels he no longer has any libido or even emotion left in his life.

Music means everything to Julian. He associates pivotal moments of his life with songs: A single song can call up memories of the day he proposed to Rachel or the day his son was born. Julian’s war-veteran father is similarly attached to music. As a young GI in 1953, he attended a Billie Holliday concert, and his voice later appeared on the singer’s recording of “I Cover the Waterfront.” Julian’s father lost his leg early in his Korean War deployment and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair before dying of cancer. Julian’s memories of his father color the narrative.



Julian’s older brother, Aidan, is another influence in Julian’s life. With his encyclopedic knowledge and five unfinished master’s degrees, Aidan is a socially awkward genius. He is the reigning Jeopardy! champion for several days before “the Incident” occurs: an unfortunate slip on national television that marks him as a pariah. Rachel takes Aidan in, helping him get back on his feet emotionally. Aidan looks on Julian with “loving condescension,” and tries to cure Julian of his “cynicism, self-admiration, and philandering.” Aidan, unaccountably, does not like music.

Music, Julian thinks, lasts “longer than anything it inspired.” Even when Julian had everything: love, a wife, a child, he still had a painful longing, an unformed desire for…something more. One cold, snowy winter night, Julian thinks he has found what he is looking for. On a mission to buy toilet paper, he braves the weather but ends up in a bar. Decades older than any of the other customers, he still stays to hear the band. The singer is Cait O’ Dwyer, a young beautiful, red-haired Irishwoman. Cait is ambitious, talented, and “ruthless,” but insecure. Her guitarist, Ian Richfield, loves Cait but is afraid to tell her. Julian thinks Cait is singing just to him. As he listens, Julian admires Cait’s musical talent, illustrating a series of bar coasters with cartoons and musical advice, such as “#4: Sing only what you can feel, or less,” and “#10: Oh! Bleaker and obliquer.” Julian buys Cait’s demo CD titled “Your Very Own Blithering Idiot” and puts it into his iPod.

The coasters intrigue Cait. When Julian goes to see her band again, he fantasizes about “loving her from afar, or seeing through her” and is shocked when she announces the next song, “Bleaker and Obliquer.” He realizes that his words on the coaster inspired Cait to write a new song. Julian thinks he can become Cait’s muse, advising her how to showcase her talent and influencing her art. Julian begins to stalk Cait and she encourages his subtle advances. Cait thinks of Julian as an advisor, rather than just another fan. They communicate via online forums. Julian calls into a telethon she participates in. Cait writes a song inviting him to her apartment. Julian attends more of her shows, even following the band on their European tour. The two play a cat-and-mouse game of seduction, although they never meet.



Meanwhile, Rachel sends Julian a sequence of postcards: an old Parisian couple with only a question mark for a message; a picture of occupied Paris. The postcards pique Julian’s interest. Cait grows frustrated with Julian’s constant deferral of a relationship. Eventually, at a hotel in Budapest where she, the band, and Julian are staying, Cait realizes that she does not want Julian or any of the baggage from his past before her. Cait raids his room and recovers all the “relics of her” that Julian has collected. She tells him it is over.

Back in New York, Julian searches the places he used to see Cait but does not find her. He reads about her online as Cait’s fame and popularity grow. Julian wonders what it would be like to be with Rachel again, and if he would let her down. Julian returns to Rachel. They buy a house with a yard and Aidan visits every Wednesday for dinner. The Song Is You ends with Julian listening to a new song by Cait, the lyrics of which refer to their brief, mysterious relationship.

The novel’s title comes from the song of the same name, composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, recorded for the 1932 musical, Music in the Air. A later recording by Frank Sinatra further popularized “The Song Is You.”