Tommy

See Me

Tommy is a rock opera by The Who. The album was mostly composed by Pete Townshed and tells the story of Tommy Walker, a "deaf, dumb and blind" boy, including his experiences with life and his relationship with his family. Townsend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to the work of Meher Baba, and attempted to translate Baba's teachings into music.

Captain Walker didn't come home
His unborn child will never know him
Believe him...

This track is heavily instrumental and the structure of the song is made up of the different melodies of songs that are to come on the album. The lyrics point to the intro of the film where it is shown that Captain Walker, who is Tommy's biological father, is killed at war. At this time, his wife was pregnant. She survives the war, and is given news that her husband is presumed dead. 

The whole film in general has no actual script, we see the story being portrayed by several scenes pasted together following along with the lyrics. 

It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy
It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boyA son
A son
A son

Mrs. Walker gives birth to a son, Tommy, right as the war comes to an end. While she is happy at the arrival of a son, she severely misses her husband and even cries as she holds baby Tommy. 

You didn't hear it
(I heard it)
You didn't see it
(I saw it)
You never heard it, not a word of it!
(I heard it, every word of it)
You won't say nothing to no one
(I won't say nothing to no one)
Never tell a soul

Young Tommy and his mother travel to Bernie's Holiday Camp, where they meet Frank, a man who works there. It doesn't take long for Frank and Nora (Mrs. Walker) to fall in love. She promises Tommy that he will be 'like a father' to him, yet Tommy's actual feelings towards him are unclear, as he is at this point five years old and aware that his biological father is presumed dead. All seems well for the next few scenes, as the family moves into a home. The time period is now the 1950's and on the original album, the backing title is the song 1921. However for the movie it is edited to 1951 to accommodated the time period. It is sung as Frank and Nora dream of the future. However, the song and the scenes in the film take a dark turn as Captain Walker returns from the war, badly wounded, and finds Frank and Nora in bed together. A struggle occurs and Frank kills Captain Walker. Nora and Frank realize Tommy saw it all so they repeatedly tell him 'you didn't see it, you didn't hear it' and this brainwashing as well as the shock of what he sees damages him psychologically. It is a turning point where a young child encounters violence and is quickly forced to grow up, yet the circumstance is unusual as he is so traumatized he becomes 'deaf, blind and dumb'. 

However, this scene can also have an alternative take. Perhaps the Captain never returned from war. In this scene, Tommy is in bed and he may be dreaming the reappearance of his fahter. In a sleep-walking daze, he travels to his mother and step father's bedroom, where he catches them in an act of intimacy. He doesn't understand this and takes it as a violent encounter, imagining that his new father is killing his own one. It could be metaphorical but in Tommy's young mind, it seemed as real, and in his dazed, half asleep state, he experiences the murder as a real one. Seeing his parents in the act, or perhaps his delusional perspective of it, causes him to become traumatized.