After a string of anthemic and ear-catching pop hits, like "My Generation," "Pictures of Lily," and "The Kids Are Alright," British rock band the Who dropped an unexpected masterpiece in 1969. Having cultivated a reputation as among the most riotous and violent groups of the British Invasion, few might have expected this foray into high classical art, although there was an inkling with the miniature song cycle "A Quick One While He's Away" (1966).
Tommy is a concept album, or "rock opera," (largely written by Pete Townshend) about a traumatized young boy who becomes the messianic founder of a New Age religious commune. Over 45 years later, the album serves as a fascinating case-study in the spirituality of the 60's counter-culture, the links between religious and traumatic experience, as well as the formation of new religious communities.
The story begins, as so many religions do, with an act of violence--in this case a murder. Tommy's father, Captain Walker, comes home from the war only to find that his wife has taken a lover. Walker's murder of the rival is unfortunately witnessed by the young Tommy who is told by his parents that he didn't see or hear anything. Moreover, even if he did, he shouldn't say anything to anyone. As such, Tommy is forced to carry a "traumatic secret" that causes him to shut down and lose the ability to see, hear, or speak.
The "deaf, dumb, and blind boy" (in the language of the album) is then compelled to turn inward, where he gains a heightened spiritual awareness and goes on a mystical "Amazing Journey."
Strange as it seems his musical dreams ain't quite so bad
Ten years old with thoughts as bold as thought can be
Loving life and becoming wise in simplicity
Sickness will surely take the mind
Where minds can't usually go
Come on the amazing journey
And learn all you should know
A vague haze of delirium creeps up on me
All at once a tall stranger I suddenly see
He's dressed in a silver sparked glittering gown
And His golden beard flows nearly down to the ground
Nothing to say and nothing to hear and nothing to see
Each sensation makes a note in my symphony
Sickness will surely take the mind
Where minds can't usually go
Come on the amazing journey
And learn all you should know
His eyes are the eyes that transmit all they know
Sparkle warm crystalline glances to show
That he is your leader and he is your guide
On the amazing journey together you'll ride
The key phrase here--"sickness will surely take the mind where minds can't usually go"--speaks to the fact that testimonials of religious experience are very often connected to various forms of illness. This does not necessarily imply causation, but it is a common pattern. From the medieval visionary Julian of Norwich's revelatory "showings" to modern accounts of near death experience, medical crises tend to give rise to a variety of spiritual encounters.
Unaware of his interior life, members of Tommy's family agonize over his spiritual well-fare. Can he indeed be saved if he does not perceive and know Jesus? Their exclusivist Christian outlook causes them considerable anxiety in the song "Christmas":
And Tommy doesn't know what day it is
Doesn't know who Jesus was or what praying is
How can he be saved from the eternal grave?
As the story progresses, there are a variety of attempts to heal Tommy, including a local hustler's suggestion that "his woman" could cure Tommy by means of her sexual power, effectively giving "Eyesight to the Blind." In fact, the theme of sexuality appears at multiple points in the story, not only as a means of potential healing, but as further traumatization. Due to his vulnerability, Tommy is sexual abused by his uncle Ernie and subjected to an attempted seduction by the "Acid Queen."
The one outlet that Tommy finds in his isolation is a remarkable ability to play pinball--a veritable "Pinball Wizard." In this way, he becomes a kind of prodigy and anomaly in his capacity to play without sensory perception. These extraordinary abilities also perplex the doctors who are consulted about his case, who in "Go to the Mirror Boy!" find that their explanatory systems cannot account for his condition.
I often wonder what he is feelingHas he ever heard a word I've said?
Look at him in the mirror dreaming
What is happening in his head?
Most peculiar is the fact that Tommy, even though he appears to register no sense perception, spends most of his time staring into a mirror. This could indicate either a sense of spiritual reflexivity or self-indulgent narcissism. But, internally we learn that he is crying out for relationship, touch, and acknowledgement.
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
These words recur throughout the album like a kind of mantra. They communicate not only Tommy's own deepest desires, but also of those who later encounter him as a spiritual leader and guru.
Desperate to reach her son, Tommy's mother decides to smash his beloved mirror, releasing him from his internal prison of sensory deprivation. As such, his old "self" has been shattered and he enters a period of awakening and enlightenment.
The awakened Tommy has immense charisma, which attracts others to the vibrating force of his spiritual energy. He is a "Sensation" not only in the colloquial sense of being a popular phenomenon, but his very presence if felt by those around him.
Make your lungs hold breath inside
Lovers break caresses for me
Love enhanced when I've gone by
You'll feel me coming
A new vibration
From afar you'll see me
I'm a sensation
I'm a sensation
They worship me and all I touch
Hazy eyed they catch my glance
Pleasant shudders shake their senses
My warm momentum throws their stance
Soon you'll see me
Can't you feel me
I'm coming
Send your troubles dancing
I know the answer
I'm coming
I'm coming
I'm a sensation
I leave a trail of rooted people
Mesmerised by just the sight
The few I touched are now disciples
Love as One
I Am the Light
At this point we see the messianic dimension coming to the fore. Those who are "mesmerized" by his presence are being united in "love" and pledging themselves to one who declares himself to be "the Light". These are the initial moments of religious community formation. But, what direction will it take? Will Tommy's disciples grow and establish themselves as a new religious "denomination" or burn-out violently like a Jonestownian sect?
Transcending his own trauma through spiritual experience, what Tommy offers his followers is "freedom"--spiritual freedom that "tastes of reality," an authenticity and enlightenment. Values very much embedded in the Sixties spiritual search.
I'm free, I'm free
And freedom tastes of reality
I'm free, I'm free
And I'm waiting for you to follow me
If I told you what it takes to reach the highest high
You'd laugh and say 'nothing's that simple'
But you've been told many times before
Messiahs pointed to the door
And no one had the guts to leave the temple
I'm free, I'm free
And freedom tastes of reality
I'm free, I'm free
And I'm waiting for you to follow me
How can we follow?
How can we follow?
This is also a freedom that transcends traditional religion. Many "Messiahs" have come pointing in the same direction, but few have had the courage to abandon convention and "leave the temple." What Tommy offers them is something more direct, more intimate, more communal. He "welcomes" his followers and invites them to "come to this house" and form new familial relations with him at his "Holiday Camp."
Come to this house!
Into this house
Come to this house
Be one of us
Make this your house
Be one of us
Tommy encourages his enthusiastic followers (such as "Sally Simpson") to give up their indulgence of drugs and alcohol in exchange for the "highest high" of his spiritual freedom. They are asked to emulated his sensory deprivation experience as a kind of ritual initiation. Sadly, however, the community becomes unstable and some of the members become skeptical and reject him, proclaiming "We're not gonna take it." They threaten to "rape him" and retraumatize him, pledging to forget all about his spiritual vision.
The "opera" ends on a rather ambivalent note with a spiritual plea that revisits the work's earlier mantra:
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
Listening to you, I get the music
Gazing at you, I get the heat
Following you, I climb the mountain
I get excitement at your feet
Right behind you, I see the millions
On you, I see the glory
From you, I get opinions
From you, I get the story
We must ask ourselves, however, who's voice is this? Tommy's or his followers'? Perhaps it's both. In spite of Tommy's spiritual vision and charisma, there may not have been enough internal cohesion for his community to hold. Or, perhaps the schism simply strengthens the resolve of his core followers who in "the millions" will follow him down the path to freedom.
It's no secret that Pete Townshend was a devotee of the Indian guru Meher Baba. Therefore, that his musical work should have a spiritual optic is no surprise, even if it is less evident in subsequent compositions. Townshend did attempt to compose a second "rock opera" called Lifehouse but it never materialized. Only a few scattered fragments of this ambitious follow-up can be seen on subsequent albums; in particular, the majestic classic "Baba O'Riley."
Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven
Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland
Sally take my hand
We'll travel south cross land
Put out the fire
And don't look past my shoulder
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let's get together, before we get much older
Teenage wasteland
It's only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland
Oh yeah, teenage wasteland
They're all wasted!
