TOMMY-- SCREENPLAY

directed by Ken Russell, starring Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Eric Clapton, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Paul Nicholas, Jack Nicholson, Robert Powell, Pete Townshend, Tina Turner and The Who
© 1975 The Robert Stigwood Organisation Limited
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Tommy Original Soundtrack Recording, © 2000 Polydor Ltd.

Tommy, directed by Ken Russell -- Illustrated Screenplay & Screencap Gallery
Tommy, by The Who -- Original Soundtrack Recording
Tommy, Can You Hear Me?, by Charles Carreon
The 9/11 Myth:  Collective Schizophrenia, by Webster Griffin Tarpley

[Transcribed from the movie by Tara Carreon, ABOL Librarian]

ROBERT STIGWOOD presents

A FILM BY KEN RUSSELL
TOMMY
by "THE WHO"

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Overture From Tommy"

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Prologue 1945"

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Captain Walker / It's a Boy"

[Chorus] Captain Walker didn't come home
His unborn child will never know him
He's believed to be missing
with a number of men
Don't expect to see him again [LC-1]

[Nurse] It's a boy, Mrs. Walker
It's a boy
It's a boy, Mrs. Walker
It's a boy
A son
A son

[Doctor and Nurse] A son

[Nurse] Hear the joyful celebrations
In the streets
It's a boy born
On this first day of peace

[Nurses and Doctor] We've won

[Nurses] A son
We've won

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Bernie's Holiday Camp"

[BERNIE'S HOLIDAY CAMP]

[Frank Hobbs] I'm your friendly green coat
And I welcome you
to Bernie's Holiday Camp
One day and you'll be happy
It's Bernie you will thank
You must be little Tommy
Well, call me Uncle Frank

Welcome you too, Mrs. Walker

[Tommy Walker] Did you know I had an Uncle Frank?

[Frank Hobbs] Here you'll always find a helping hand

[Tommy Walker] I've never met him, have I?
Lookie, Mom, a cage of budgies
Swimming pool and donkey rides
Oh, please

[Frank Hobbs] A camp with the extras
I'm in chateau number 11.

[Tommy Walker] It's all free, Mom

[Frank Hobbs] When you come to Bernie's
You might think you're in heaven

[BERNIE'S LOVELY LEGS COMPETITION]

[Frank Hobbs] Here we have the winner, folks
Have you ever seen
a lovelier pair
What a shapely ankle
What a perfect shin
If you could feel
this silken thigh
You'd know who has to win
If you could feel
this silken thigh
You'd know

[Nora Walker] You don't know
how much I've missed
To feel a man again
To dance
To kiss

[Frank Hobbs] Your eyes reveal you're lonely

[Nora Walker] This evening must pass slowly
Until we're one
My heart won't rest
Will Tommy share our happiness?

[Frank Hobbs] Of course he will
I'll make him smile

[Nora Walker] You don't know
how much I've missed

[Frank Hobbs] I'll take him out to cinemas
and fairs

[Nora Walker] To feel a man again
To dance
To kiss

[Frank Hobbs] Football and cricket
Never been a happier lad
I'll be more than an uncle
I'll be just like a dad

[Tommy Walker] I will be a green coat too
And when I'm big
I'll own a holiday camp
A camp with a difference
Always be good weather
When you come to Tommy's
The holiday's forever

[Nora Walker] I'm glad you like
your Uncle Frank
He'll surely love you too
Just like a dad

[Tommy Walker] He's very nice, I think
Did he fight in the war?

[Tommy and Nora Walker] When he's got his green coat on
I love him even more

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "1951 / What About The Boy?"

[Nora Walker] Got a feeling '51's going to be a good year
Especially if you and me
see it out together

[Frank Hobbs] So you think that '51
is gonna be a good year?
We'll marry now
and see it out together

[Nora Walker] I have no reason
to be overoptimistic
But somehow when you smile
I can brave bad weather

[Nora Walker] What about the boy?
What about the boy?
What about the boy
He saw it all

[Frank Hobbs] You didn't hear it
You didn't see it
You won't say nothin' to no one
ever in your life
You never heard it
How absurd it all seems
without any proof

[Nora Walker] You didn't hear it
You didn't see it
You won't say nothin' to no one
ever in your life
You never heard it
How absurd it all seems
without any proof

[Nora Walker and Frank Hobbs] You didn't hear it
You didn't see it
You never heard it
not a word of it
You won't say nothin' to no one
Never tell a soul
what you know is the truth

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Amazing Journey"

[Chorus] Now he is deaf
Now he is dumb
Now he is blind
The guilty are safe
But always accused
by his empty eyes
Nothing to say
Nothing to hear
And nothing to see
Each sensation makes a note
in his symphony

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 him
Soaring and flying images spin
He is your leader
He is your guide
On the amazing journey
together you'll ride

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
The truth burns so bright
it can melt winter snow
A towering shadow
so black and so high
A white sun burning
the Earth and the sky [LC-2]

[Nora Walker] Tommy.

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Christmas"

[Nora Walker] Did you ever see the faces of the children?
They get so excited
Waking up on Christmas morning
Hours before
the winter's sun's ignited
They believe in dreams
and all they mean
Including heaven's generosity
Peeping 'round the door to see
What parcels are for free
in curiosity
And Tommy doesn't know
what day it is
He doesn't know who Jesus was
or what praying is

[All] How can he be saved?
From the eternal grave?

[Frank Hobbs] Tommy, can you hear me?
Tommy, can you hear me?

[Nora Walker] Tommy
Tommy,
can you hear me?
Tommy, can you hear me?

[Frank Hobbs] Tommy, can you hear me?

[Nora Walker] Can you --

[Frank Hobbs] Tommy, can you hear me?

[Nora Walker] Can you hear me?

[All] How can he be saved?

[Tommy Walker] See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me
See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me

[Nora Walker] Tommy, can you hear me?
Tommy, can you hear me?

[All] How can he be saved?

[Frank Hobbs] Surrounded by his friends
he sits so silently
And unaware of anything
Crazy-eyed he picks his nose
He smiles, he cries
He pokes his tongue at everything

[Nora Walker] I believe in love
But how can men who've never
seen light be enlightened?
Only if he's cured
Will his spirit's future level
ever heighten

[Frank Hobbs] And Tommy doesn't know
what day it is

[Nora Walker] He doesn't know who Jesus was
or what praying is

[All] How can he be saved
From the eternal grave?

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Eyesight To The Blind"

[The Preacher] You talk about your woman
I wish you could see mine
You talk about your woman
I wish you could see mine
Every time she starts to lovin'
She brings eyesight to the blind
Oh, yeah

You know, her daddy gave her magic
I can tell by the way she walks
You know, her daddy gave her magic
I can tell by the way she walks
Every time she starts to shake
The dumb begin to talk
Talk, talk, talk

She's got the power to heal you
Never fear
She's got the power to heal you
Never fear
Just one word from her lips
And the deaf can hear
Oh yeah

She's got the power to heal you
Never fear
Oh, she's got the power to heal you
Never fear
|One word from her lips
And the deaf can hear
Oh, yeah

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "The Acid Queen"

[NON STOP STRIPTEASE]

[The Acid Queen] If your child
ain't all he should be now
This girl will put him right

I'll show him
what he could be now
Just give me one night

I'm the Gypsy
The Acid Queen
Pay me before I start

I'm the Gypsy
and I'm guaranteed
To mend his aching heart

Give us a room
Close the door
Leave us for a while

You won't be a boy no more
Young but not a child

'Cause I'm the Gypsy
The Acid Queen
Pay me before I start

The Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear your soul apart

Gather your wits
and hold on fast
Your mind must learn to roam

Just as the Gypsy Queen must do
You're gonna hit the road

My work's begun
Now look at him
He's never been more alive

His head it shakes
His fingers clutch
Watch his body writhe

I'm the Gypsy
The Acid Queen
Pay me before I start

I'm the Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To break your little heart

If your child ain't all he should be now
This girl will put him right

I'll show him what he could be now
Just give me one more night

I'm the Gypsy
The Acid Queen
Pay me before I start

I'm the Gypsy
I'm guaranteed
To tear his soul apart

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Do You Think It's Alright (1)"

[Nora Walker] Do you think it's all right
To leave the boy
with Cousin Kevin?
Do you think it's all right
There's something 'bout him
I don't really like
Do you think it's all right?

[Frank Hobbs] I think it's all right
Yes, I think it's all right

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Cousin Kevin"

[Cousin Kevin] We're on our own, cousin
All alone, cousin
Let's think of a game to play
Now the grownups
have all gone away
You won't be much fun
being blind, deaf and dumb
But I've no one
to play with today
Do you know how to play
hide-and-seek
To find me
it would take you a week
But tied to that chair
you won't go anywhere
There's a lot I can do
to a freak

How would you feel
If I turned on the bath
Dunked your head under
And started to laugh?
Maybe a cigarette burn
On your arm
Would change your expression
To one of alarm

I'm the school bully
The classroom cheat
The nastiest play friend
You ever could meet
I'll put glass in your dinner
And spikes in your seat

I'll drag you around
By a lock of your hair
And give you a push
At the top of the stairs
What would you do
If I shut you outside
To stand in the rain
And catch cold so you die?

I'm the school bully
The classroom cheat
The nastiest play friend
You ever could meet
I'll stick pins in your fingers
And tread on your feet

We're on our own, cousin
All alone, cousin
We've thought of
some nice games to play
While the grownups
had all gone away
You weren't too much fun
'cause you're blind, deaf and dumb
But I'd no one
to play with today

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Do You Think It's Alright (2)"

[Nora Walker] Do you think it's all right
To leave the boy with Uncle Ernie?
Do you think it's all right
He's had a few too many tonight
Do you think it's all right?

[Frank Hobbs] Yes, I think it's all right
Yes, I think it's all right

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Fiddle About"

[Uncle Ernie] I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie
I'm glad you won't see or hear me
As I fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about

Your mother left me here
to mind you
And I'm doing exactly what I bleedin' well want to
Fiddling about
Fiddling about
Fiddling about

Down with your bedclothes
Up with your nightshirt
Fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about
You won't shite
as I fiddle "abite"
Fiddle "abite"
Fiddle "abite"
Fiddle "abite"

[Newspaper Headline: "Inside Center", "Gay News -- Obscenity Triumph -- No Case to Answer"]

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Do You Think It's Alright (3)"

[Nora Walker] Do you think it's all right
Leaving Tommy by the mirror?
You would think he had sight
Been staring half the night
Do you think it's all right?

[Frank Hobbs] I think it's all right
Yes, I think it's all right

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Sparks"

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Extra Extra Extra"

[GOTTLIEB'S KINGS & QUEENS] [LC-3]

[Chorus] Extra, extra
Pinball bonanza
Deaf, dumb and blind kid
makes the big game
Saturday, the final
He faces the champ

Extra, extra
Pinball, big time
A million in hand
You can rule the world
from a yacht in the bay

Champagne flowing
You're a popular man
Pinball, let's play
Tommy keeps on winning
He's a millionaire
Mama's got a brand-new Cadillac
Hurry to the show
We're nearly on the air
Extra, extra!

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Pinball Wizard"

[Local Lad] Ever since I was a young boy
I played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all
But I ain't seen nothin' like him
in any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
sure plays a mean pinball

He stands like a statue
Becomes part of the machine
Feelin' all the bumpers
Always playin' clean
He plays by intuition
The digit counters fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
sure plays a mean pinball!

[Local Lad & Crowd] He's a pinball wizard
There has to be a twist
A pinball wizard
Got such a supple wrist

[Crowd] How do you think he does it?

[Local Lad] I don't know

[Crowd] What makes him so good?

[Local Lad] Well, he ain't got no distractions
Can't hear no buzzers and bells
Don't see lights a-flashing
He plays by sense of smell
Always has a replay
Never tilts at all
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball

[D. Gottlieb & Co., Chicago, Ill -- KINGS & QUEENS -- A -- 5 POINTS]

[Local Lad] He can't beat me now
I've always been the champ
I know every trick
No freak's gonna beat my hand

Even on my usual table
He can beat the best
His disciples lead him in
And he just does the rest
He's got crazy flipper fingers
I've never seen him fall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
sure plays a mean pin ball

[Local Lad & Crowd] He's a pinball wizard
There has to be a twist
A pinball wizard
Got such a supple wrist

He's a pinball wizard
He scores a trillion more
A pinball wizard
The world's new pinball lord
He's scoring more
He's scoring more

[Local Lad] I thought I was
the Bally table king
But I just handed
my pinball crown to him
To him
To him

[Crowd] Boo! Boo!

[Guests] Take one lady totally demanding
Join the banquet
at her commanding
Eat no fat and eat no lean
Eat Rex Beans
fit for a queen

Eat no fat and eat no lean
Eat Rex Beans
fit for a queen

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Champagne"

[Nora Walker] Today it rains champagne
A son was born again
A genius untamed
A life of wealth and fame
wealth and fame

Champagne flowing down
just like rain
Caviar breakfasts every day
Merchant banks
and yachts at Cannes
Servants and cars
and private sand

[Tommy] See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me
See me
Feel me
Touch me
Feel me
Feel me

[Nora Walker] They flock in, thousands strong
We'll just play along
A million in reserve
For a love
A just deserve
Just deserve
Francs and dollars
and peacock's wings
Sequined gowns
and birds that sing
Private planes
and fishing lakes
Bigger crowds
and bigger, bigger, bigger takes

But what's it all worth
What's it all worth
when my son is blind
He can't hear the music
nor enjoy what I'm buying
His life is worthless
affecting mine
I'd pay any price
To drive his plight
from my mind

[Tommy] See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me
See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "There's A Doctor"

[Frank Hobbs] There's a man I've found
could bring us all joy
There's a doctor I've found
can cure the boy
A doctor I've found
can cure the boy

There's a man I've found
could remove his sorrow
He lives in this town
Let's see him tomorrow

[Nora Walker] Let's see him tomorrow

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Go To The Mirror"

[The Specialist] He seems to be completely unreceptive
The tests I gave him showed
no sense at all
His eyes react to light
the dial's detected
He hears but cannot answer
to your call

[Tommy] See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me
See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me

[The Specialist] There is no chance
no untried operation
All hope lies with him
and none with me
Imagine, though, the shock
from isolation
When he suddenly can hear
and speak and see?

[Tommy] See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me
See me
Feel me
Touch me
Heal me

[The Specialist] His eyes can see
his ears can hear, his lips speak
All the time
the needles flick and rock
No machine can give
the kind of stimulation
Needed to remove his inner block

[Frank Hobbs] I often wonder
what it is he's feeling

[Nora Walker] I often wonder
what it is he's feeling

[Frank Hobbs] Has he ever heard a word I've said

[Nora Walker] Has he ever heard a word I've said

[Frank Hobbs] Look at him now
in the mirror, dreaming

[Nora Walker] Look at him now
in the mirror, dreaming

[Frank Hobbs] What is happening in his head?

[Nora Walker] What is happening in his head?
What is happening in his head?

[Frank Hobbs] What is happening in his head?
I wish I knew

[Nora Walker] I wish I knew

[Frank Hobbs] I wish I knew

[Nora Walker] I wish I knew

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Tommy, Can You Hear Me?"

[Nora Walker] Tommy, can you see me?
Can I hope to cheer you?
Tommy, can you hear me?
Can you feel me near you?
Oh, Tommy
Tommy
Tommy
Tommy

Tommy, can you hear me?
Can you feel me near you?
Tommy, can you see me?
Can I help to cheer you?
Oh, Tommy
Tommy
Tommy
Tommy
Tommy

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Smash The Mirror"

[Nora Walker] You don't answer my call
with even a nod or a twitch
But you gaze at your own reflection
You don't seem to see me
But I think you can see yourself
How can the mirror affect you?

Can you hear me
or do I surmise
That you fear me?
Can you feel my temper rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise
Rise

Do you hear or fear or
Do I smash the mirror?
Do you hear or fear or
Do I smash the mirror?

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "I'm Free"

[Tommy] I'm free
I'm free
And freedom
Tastes of reality
I'm free
Oh, 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
No one had the guts
to leave the temple

I'm free
I'm free
And I'm waiting
for you to follow me
I'm free
I'm free
And I'm waiting
for you to follow me

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Mother and Son"

[Nora Walker] Tommy, can you hear me?
Tommy, can you hear me?
Tommy, can you hear me?
Tommy, can you hear me?
Tommy
Tommy
Tommy
Tommy

[Tommy] Mother
Father
Touch me
Feel me
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
Have you known me?
Have you seen me?
Mother

[Nora Walker] You're a hero
You are famous
You're a champion of the young
You are rich
but it's so absurd to try
To explain all the things
you've done
You're adored and you're loved
Thousands watch you play
Pinball
It's a fever
And you're the master of the game
And now that you're whole
You'll be champion
of their very souls

[Tommy] Yes, I'm healed
Delivered from silent darkness
No more locked doors
or stifled screams
Pinball
What I see now before me
Is far beyond a game
Beyond your wildest dreams
Those who love me
Have a higher path to follow now
And you, dear Mother too
Must be prepared

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Miracle Cure"

[Daily News] TOMMY SPEAKS!

[Chorus] Extra, extra, read all about it
The pinball wizard
in a miracle cure
Extra, extra, read all about it
Extra, extra
Right now, right now
Story and pictures
Pinball bonanza
A mother's joy
World tours, show times
lessons and lectures
Extra
Extra

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Sally Simpson"

[Chorus] Outside the house
Mr. Simpson announced
That Sally couldn't go
to the meeting
He went on cleaning
his black Rolls-Royce
She ran inside weeping

She got to her room
and tears splashed the picture
Of the new Messiah
She picked up a book
of her father's life
And threw it on the fire

[A SOLDIER FOR JESUS -- REV. A. SIMPSON, V.C.]

She knew from the start
deep down in her heart
She and Tommy were worlds apart
But her mother said never mind
Your part is to be
what you'll be

The theme of the sermon was
Come unto Me
Love will find a way
So Sally decided to ignore her dad
And sneak out anyway

She spent all afternoon
getting ready
Decided she'd try to touch him
Maybe he'd see that she was free
And talk to her this Sunday

She knew from the start
deep down in her heart
She and Tommy were worlds apart
But her mother said never mind
Your part is to be
what you'll be

She arrived at 6:00
and the place was swinging
To gospel music by 9:00
Group after group appeared
on the stage
but Sally just sat there sighing
She bit her nails
looking pretty as a picture
Right in the very front row
And then one of the faithful
came on stage
And shouted
Here we go!

The crowd went crazy
As Tommy hit the stage
Little Sally got lost
as the police bossed
The crowd back in a rage

[Tommy] Your happy welcome is like a favor
I must now return
The darkness of my childhood passed
And flames of love now burn
The pinball game I play so well
Reflects a way of life
This meeting is just
another game
Let's play to win tonight

[Chorus] She knew from the start
deep down in her heart
She and Tommy were worlds apart
But her mother said never mind
Your part is to be
what you'll be
Her cheek hit a chair
and blood trickled down
Mingling with her tears

[Tommy] Try to walk the path I walk
Never mind the pain and fear
Each one of you has freedom
In your heart without my grace
Let me see you raise your hands
See joy upon your face

[Chorus] The crowd went crazy
As Tommy left the stage
Little Sally was lost
for the price of a touch
A gash across her face
Her pretty face

Sixteen stitches put her right
and her dad said
Don't say I didn't warn ya
Sally got married to a rock musician
Who came from California

Tommy always talks about the day
The disciples all went wild
Sally still carries the scar
on her cheek
To remind her of his smile

She knew from the start
deep down in her heart
She and Tommy were worlds apart
But her mother said never mind
Your part is to be
what you'll be

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Sensation"

[Chorus] While Tommy flies
the world is turning
Life goes on for you and me
Our chief concern is money-earning
Why can't someone set us free?

Can't you feel him?
Can't you feel him?
Can't you feel him?
Can't you feel him?

[Tommy] You'll feel me comin'
A new vibration
From afar you'll see me
I'm a sensation
I'm a sensation

I overwhelm as I approach you
Make your lungs hold breath inside
Grounded angels
your wings are broken
Time to mend and learn to fly
They worship me and all I touch
Hazy-eyed
they catch my glance
Pleasant shudders shake their senses
My warm momentum
throws their stance

You'll feel me coming
A new vibration
From afar you'll see me
I'm a sensation
I'm a sensation

Soon you'll see me
Can't you feel me, I'm comin'
Send your troubles dancing
I know the answer
I'm comin'
I'm comin'
I'm a sensation

You'll feel me comin'
A new vibration
From afar you'll see me
I'm a sensation
I'm a sensation

I leave a trail of rooted people
Mesmerized by just the sight
The few I touched now are disciples
Love as one
I am the light
I am the light

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Welcome"

[Tommy] Come to my house
Be one of the comfortable people
Come to this house
We're drinking all night
never sleeping

Milkman coming
And you, baker
Little old lady, welcome
And you, shoemaker
Come to this house
Into this house

[Frank Hobbs and Nora Walker] Come to this house
Be one of us
Make this your house
Be one of us

[Tommy] You can help
to collect some more in
Young and old people
Let's get them all in

Come to this house
Into this house

Ask along that man with the big, red carnation
Brings every single person
from Victoria Station
Go into a hospital
and bring the nurses and patients
Everyone go home
and fetch their relations

[Tommy, Frank Hobbs and Nora Walker] Come to this house
Be one of the comfortable people
Lovely, bright home
We're drinking all night
never sleeping

[Frank Hobbs] Oh, no, Tommy
There's more at the door
They'll come through the floor
There's more at the door
There's more at the door
There's more at the door
There's more at the door
There's more at the door
There's more at the door
There's more at the door
There's more --

[Tommy] We need more room
Build an extension
A colorful palace
Spare no expense, now

Come to me now
Come to me now
Welcome!
Welcome!
Welcome!

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "T.V. Studio"

[Nora Walker] He'll raise
your weary spirits high
My son will teach
your silent hearts
To talk
Every home will have his picture
Pilgrims all will touch his hand
Pinball tables
gold and silver
Altars to the master's plan

[Frank Hobbs] Rio, Paris
New York, London
Moscow, Peking, Tokyo
The world!
A Tommy camp in every city
Millions flocking in like sheep
What they want ain't cheap
It's a pity
But who am I to upset their dreams?

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "Tommy's Holiday Camp"

[Uncle Ernie] Good morning, converts
I'm your brother Ernie
and I welcome you
to Tommy's Holiday Camp

The camp with the difference
Never mind the weather
When you come to Tommy's
The holiday's forever
Welcome!

Get your Tommy T-shirts
and your stickers
and your Tommy mirrors to smash!
Don't rush. Keep steady!
Have your money ready
Buy your way to heaven
That comes to one pound, seven
Bless your heart

Buy his shades and earplugs here
Keep in line
I've got a huge supply
Get your Tommy records
You can really hear him talk
Tommy pics and badges
half a nicker for the cork
Keep in line, playmates!
You lucky people!

The camp with the difference
so never mind the weather
When you come to Tommy's
the holiday's forever

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "We're Not Gonna Take It"

[Converts] These pricey dills don't teach us
Your freedom doesn't reach us
Enlightenment escapes us
Awareness doesn't shape us
How can all this trivia
take us to the goal you reached?
We came here to be like you
and find the world you've reached

These pricey dills don't teach us!
Your freedom doesn't reach us!
Enlightenment escapes us!
Awareness doesn't shape us!
How can all this trivia
take us to the goal you reached?
We came here to be like you
and find the world you've reached

[Tommy] Welcome to the camp
I guess you all know why we're here
My name is Tommy
And I became aware this year

If you want to follow me
You've got to play pinball
And put in your earplugs
put on your eyeshades
You know where to put the cork  [LC-4]

Hey, you, gettin' drunk
So sorry
I got you sussed
Hey, you, smokin' mother nature
You missed the bus
Hey, old hung-up Mr. Normal
Don't try to gain my trust
'Cause you ain't gonna follow me
any of those ways
Although you think you must

Now you can't hear me
Your ears are truly sealed
You can't speak either
'Cause your mouth is filled
You can't see nothin'
And pinball completes the scene
Here come willing helpers
to guide you to
Your very own machine

[Gottlieb's ROYAL GUARD]

[Converts] We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
Never did and never will
We don't have to take it
Gonna break it
Gonna shake it
Let's forget it better still

We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
Never did and never will
Don't want no religion
And as far as I can tell
We ain't gonna take you
Never did and never will
We're not gonna take you
We forsake you
Gonna break you
Let's forget you
Better still

Film and Music Students Click Here to Hear "See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You"

[Tommy] See me
Feel me
Touch me
Hear me

See me
Feel me
Touch me
Hear me

See me
Feel me
Touch me
Hear me

See me
Feel me
Touch me
Hear me
Hear me

[Choir] 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
From you
I see the glory
From you
I get opinions
From you
I get the story

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

[Tommy and Choir] Oh, right behind you
I see the millions
On you, I see the glory
From you, I get opinions
From you, I get the story

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

Oh, 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
Listening to you

***

TOMMY

Directed by
KEN RUSSELL

Produced by
ROBERT STIGWOOD
& KEN RUSSELL

Executive Producers
BERYL VERTUE &
CHRISTOPHER STAMP

Screenplay by
KEN RUSSELL

Based upon the Rock Opera by
PETE TOWNSHEND
Additional Material by
JOHN ENTWISTLE &
KEITH MOON

OLIVER REED
Frank
ANN-MARGRET
Nora

ROGER DALTREY
as Tommy

and Featuring
ELTON JOHN
as The Pinball Wizard

Guest Artistes

ERIC CLAPTON
The Preacher

JOHN ENTWISTLE
Himself

KEITH MOON
Uncle Ernie

PAUL NICHOLAS
Cousin Kevin

JACK NICHOLSON
The Specialist

ROBERT POWELL
Captain Walker

PETE TOWNSHEND
Himself

TINA TURNER
The Acid Queen

ARTHUR BROWN
The Priest

VICTORIA RUSSELL
Sally Simpson

BEN ARIS
Reverend Simpson

MARY HOLLAND
Mrs. Simpson

GARY RICH
Rock Musician

DICK ALLAN
President Black Angels

BARRY WINCH
Young Tommy

EDDIE STACEY
Bovver Boy

Associate Producer
HARRY BENN

Musical Director
PETE TOWNSHEND
Original (record) album produced by Kit Lambert

Costumes Designed by
SHIRLEY RUSSELL

Art Director
JOHN CLARK

Sets Designed by PAUL DUFFICEY
Set Dresser IAN WHITTAKER
Assistant Art Director TERRY ACKLAND-SNOW
Sculptor CHRISTOPHER HOBBS
Construction Manager JACK CARTER
Property Master HARRY NEWMAN
Buver BRYN SIDDALL

Editor STUART BAIRD
Production Manager JOHN COMFORT
Music Recordist RON NEVISON
Location Managers LEE BOLON, RICKY GREEN
Choreographer GILLIAN GREGORY
"Eyesight to the Blind" by Sonny Boy Williamson

Photographed by
DICK BUSH
RONNIE TAYLOR

Camera Operator EDDIE COLLINS
Focus Puller MALCOLM VINSON
Assistant Director JONATHAN BENSON
Continuity KAY MANDER
Wardrobe Supervisor RICHARD POINTING
Make Up GEORGE BLACKLER & PETER ROBB-KING
Hairdresser JOYCE JAMES
Special material filmed by ROBIN LEHMAN

Sound Recordist IAIN BRUCE
Dubbing Mixer BILL ROWE
Music Editor TERRY RAWLINGS
Lighting Contractors LEE ELECTRICS
Gaffer BOB BREMNER
Special Effects EFFECTS ASSOCIATES, NOBBY CLARKE, CAMERA EFFECTS
Production Processing RANK LABS.

© MCMLXXV by The Robert Stigwood Organisation Limited

Our thanks to
BILL CURBISHLEY
BLUEBELL RAILWAY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
THE NATIONAL TRUST, LAKE DISTRICT
CITY OF PORTSMOUTH
BIRDMAN SPORTS PROMOTIONS LIMITED
and flyers
KEN MESSENGER & DAVE RAYMOND

Musicians
ELTON JOHN
ERIC CLAPTON
KEITH MOON
JOHN ENTWISTLE
RONNIE WOOD
KENNY JONES
NICKY HOPKINS
CHRIS STAINTON
FUZZY SAMUELS
CALEB QUAYE
MICK RALPHS
GRAHAM DEAKIN
PHIL CHEN

Musicians
ALAN ROSS
RICHARD BAILEY
DAVE CLINTON
TONY NEWMAN
MIKE KELLY
DEE MURRAY
NIGEL OLLSON
RAY COOPER
DAVEY JOHNSTONE
GEOFF DALEY
BOB EFFORD
RONNIE ROSS
HOWIE CASEY

and the Vocal Chorus
LIZA STRIKE
SIMON TOWNSHEND
MYLON LE FEVRE
BILLY NICHOLLS
JEFF RODEN
MARGO NEWMAN
GILLIAN McINTOSH
VICKI BROWN
KIT TREVOR
HELEN SHAPPELL
PAUL GURVITZ
ALISON DOWLING
Music synthesizer programming by PETE TOWNSHEND
Theatre organ played by GERALD SHAW
Arranged by MARTYN FORD

MADE AT LEE INTERNATIONAL STUDIOS LTD.
KENSAL ROAD, LONDON W.10 ENGLAND
and on location by
THE ROBERT STIGWOOD ORGANISATION LIMITED
67 BROOK STREET, LONDON W.1 ENGLAND

Soundtrack Album Released on
POLYDOR RECORDS

Quintophonic Sound
Developed by
John Mosely
_______________

Librarian's Comments:

[LC-1] The sun has set, and Tommy's mother is working in a wartime munitions plant, stuffing artillery shells with chrome ball-bearings.  Gleaming silver and pearl orbs will be ubiquitous throughout the movie.  They will appear as the eclipsing moon, first held by Tommy's father, then appear mysteriously at moments of crisis, leading Tommy to his destiny.  They will also appear as decorative items in every conceivable place -- atop Tommy's walking stick, his microphone, his beanie hat, the back of his jacket (where these moon balls falsely take the shape of the sun), the balls dangling from his shirt cuffs, and on his belt.

They appear on the Pinball Wizard Elton John's beanie hat, and all over his outlandish Elton glasses.  The orb tops the "Tommy cross" that is the central symbol of the Tommy Church.  Tommy sits on the orb, stands on it, it is the chair, the lamp, the vase, the doorknobs, the decorative jew-jaws on the living room table, the jewelry the women wear, the knobby adornments on royal coats and Nazi jackets, the shining protuberances around the neck of his mother's dress, the shining things on the back of hats and on top of policemens' caps, the mirrors, the headlights on the Nazi motorbikes, the coins in the cash register, the light in the junkyard.  Orbs adorn Uncle Ernie's organ, manifest as Marilyn Monroe's tits, appear as the Specialist's machines, and of course as the pinball itself.  By diffusing bomb components through the fabric of everyday life, Russell is saying that we have institutionalized murder and domesticated instruments of death for everyday use as decorations and adornments.  In much the same way, the jolly roger and death's head have become a pervasive and popular commercial design, equally suitable as decorations for truck bumpers, children's pajamas, and stockbroker's suspenders. Similarly, the Christian cross.  This transformation of violence into display is accomplished by our modern shamans of sales and industry, a transference meant to conceal the death-bringing power of the ordnance.  Being reflective orbs, the pinballs, ball-bearings, and other shiny spheres are moonlike, delusive and distracting, hiding the true source of illumination, the sun.  The moon therefore represents what is death-like and false, and the sun what is life-bringing and true.  Thus, moon can symbolize schizophrenia, that floods the mind with delusive reflections that obscure reality.  Schizophrenics are treated by bringing them back from unreality to reality.  In the last scene, Tommy climbs the same mountain that his father climbed in the movie's first scene, and his healing is complete as he stands, arms spread, enhaloed by the true rising sun.

[LC-2] Psychological case studies have familiarized us with the phenomenon of trauma victims suffering the loss of sensory abilities and speech, like Tommy, who becomes deaf, dumb and blind in response to seeing his mother and stepfather murder his father, and then being told that he saw nothing, heard nothing and will say nothing.  It has been theorized that whole societies may be plunged into such a state of cultural amnesia and enforced silence by events such as the toppling of three buildings at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  To read more on what one author describes as collective schizophrenia arising out of 9/11, see The 9/11 Myth:  Collective Schizophrenia, an excerpt from 9/11 Synthetic Terrorism Made in USA, by Webster Griffin Tarpley:

(Excerpt from excerpt)

PLATO'S CAVE AND LOCKE'S SENSE CERTAINTY

In retrospect, 9/11 emerges as a made-for-television spectacle of death and destruction in which all plausibility is sacrificed for visual effectiveness on the screen. A half century ago, such an operation would have been much more difficult. Movies go back over 100 years. By 2004, the U.S. population had been addicted to the television screen for some 50 years; the younger generations had never known anything else. Computer screens had been around for 30 years. Finally, the vogue of video games had been strong for several decades. The result was that a world of flickering images projected on screens of various sizes and types had displaced experienced reality for many, or rather had become the centerpiece of their experienced reality. The computer enhancement of Hollywood films had further blurred the notion of what was real.

This was an old problem, the problem of sense certainty, appearing in a new form. It had been discussed by Plato in The Republic, in the celebrated passage of Book VII devoted to the cave. In the age of 9/11, Plato's cave was even enjoying a new revival of interest because of the way it had been crudely reflected in the movie The Matrix. Plato imagined ignorant and unenlightened humanity as confined to an underground cave, illuminated only by faint diffuse sunlight from the cave entrance and the light of a fire. Humanity sat tied and fettered, forced to stare at a blank rock face in front of them; they could not turn their heads. Behind them was a wall, and between the wall and the fire a walkway. Along the walkway came bearers of statues, effigies and other artifacts, holding them up above the wall so that their shadows were cast on the rock face in view of the fettered audience. The bearers supplemented their flickering shadowy show with sound effects as best they could, which echoed from the rock face. The fettered audience of course became convinced that the shadows on the rock face in front of them were the very substance of reality, and prided themselves on their knowledge of the various shadows and the order in which they usually appeared. If any of the fettered victims were brought into the sunlight, he would suffer unspeakable pain and take a long time to become accustomed to the light. If any of them who had been in the sunlight tried to explain the nature of the world above to the cave dwellers, he risked enraging them, and being torn to pieces.

This is Plato's figure for the predicament of mankind, always starting from a naive epistemology of sense certainty applied to the discrete manifold that is accessible to the senses. Because of the attractive power of sense certainty, most people do not want to advance from opinion, which deals with shadows and reflections, to the higher form of understanding, which deals with mathematical thinking, and to the highest faculty of reason, which seeks to clarify the good and the other Platonic ideas through the exercise of dialectical thought. But this is the path which those who love truth and reason, the philosophers, must attempt to tread.

In modern times, the ruler of the cave has been John Locke, the great codifier of English empiricism, with his doctrine that the mind is a blank slate, and that the entire content of the mind derives from the accumulation of sense impressions. Locke's sensationalism, itself borrowed from Paolo Sarpi of Venice, has been the key to the degradation of mental life in the English-speaking world for over three centuries. By comparison, the French Cartesian approach, although deeply flawed, has fared marginally better. The Leibnizian outlook has fared best, even though undercut by the most difficult of circumstances. This may be at least one of the reasons why mass gullibility in regard to 9/11 has been the greatest in the English-speaking world, while France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and other nations have all had either a best-selling book and/or a prime time nationwide television program devoted to a serious critique of 9/11. What we need to remember is that if Plato's cave were to be depicted for the modern world, it would have an endless video tape of the events of 9/11 projected on the rock face in front of the fettered cave inmates.

THE 9/11 MYTH AS MASS SCHIZOPHRENIA

Our thesis here is that the 9/11 myth represents a form of mass schizophrenia. It was designed in this form by the terrorist controllers, far from any Afghan caves, who actually planned and executed this project. The schizophrenia of the 9/11 myth is congenial to the mental outlook of Bush and the neocons, who have been the most energetic propagators of the myth. The mass broadcasting of the myth as a compulsory article of faith by numerous important institutions has clearly induced a schizophrenic shift in the collective psychology of the US population, and may well be generating individual cases of schizophrenia at an accelerated rate. Something in this direction has been suggested by Dr. John Gray, the celebrated author of Men are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, in his remarks to the International Inquiry on 9-11 held in Toronto at the end of May 2004.

The purpose of terrorism, of course, includes terror -- the chilling effect of fear which has already heavily impacted political speech, trade union militancy, and intellectual life. This is so obvious that it hardly needs to be commented upon. As all those who lived through it can remember, the shock of 9/11 was profound, and successfully paralyzed whatever real political life there was in the U.S. for more than two years, certainly until the Democratic primary contest began to heat up towards the end of 2003. The Democratic Party collapsed during 2002, and it is not clear that it has recovered to this day.

***

THE 9/11 MYTH AND THE EPIDEMIC OF AUTISM IN THE US

There remains the question of to what degree the social and intellectual hegemony of the 9/11 myth, especially as purveyed by its mentally impaired poster boy, is generating avoidable schizophrenic disorders in the US population and abroad. One form that such an epidemic might take would be an upsurge of autism among the most vulnerable members of society -- among children, who are amazingly adept at absorbing the fears, anxieties, and distortions of the adult world around them. Evidence of just such a phenomenon is not hard to find. About two years after September 11, Newsweek devoted an important cover story to "Girls, Boys, and Autism." According to the article, there are now more than a million Americans suffering from this disorder, 80% of them males. The article gives no figures for the growth in the number of cases, but the publication of this article and the attention it received suggests that the number of cases is rising, especially among the most vulnerable -- children, but not among them alone. (Newsweek, September 8, 2003) In 2002 the New York Times reported that "a shocking report from California last week suggested that a large increase in childhood autism in that state over the last 15 years is a true epidemic, not a statistical mirage inflated by artificial factors." (New York Times, October 23, 2002) Research by qualified experts will be necessary to determine whether there is in fact a causal link between the 9/11 myth and these disturbing reports.

According to some, the autism epidemic is genetically determined. According to others, it is a by-product of certain ill-advised vaccinations. But there is no reason why it could not be socially, culturally, and politically determined. This is exactly what one would expect in a traumatized country dominated by a compulsory schizophrenic belief system, whose apparent leadership figure demonstrates a whole range of megalomaniac schizophrenic symptoms. One means of fighting the growth of culturally and socially induced autism would surely be to junk the schizophrenic myth of 9/11, and replace it with a true and reasoned account of what took place in the real world.

[LC-3] The Librarian has observed that all of the pinball machines in the movie are "Gottlieb" models, with a particular emphasis on the games "Kings and Queens" and "Royal Guard," the former being the machine Tommy plays when he dethrones the Pinball Wizard, and the latter being the first to be smashed by the uprising of Tommy rebels against Tommy-religion.  While Gottlieb was a large producer of pinball machines, given Russell's obsessive control of his sets, the choice of machines cannot be presumed the result of chance.  "Gott lieb" translates to "God's Love," and, in another possibly intended reference, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb was the head of MK ULTRA, the infamous CIA (commonly referred to as "The Company")mind-control experiment that utilized drugs, cult conditioning, and cult religion in an effort to destroy and rebuild human minds in the desired fashion.  Russell's vampiric depiction of The Acid Queen, with her psychedelic iron maiden equipped with multiple hypodermics and a rotating base to catapult her victims into inner space evokes the pitiless use of powerful drugs and terrifying "set and setting" to destroy the personality.  Gottlieb would have been in awe.  Russell was no doubt aware of the efforts of the CIA to neutralize the social activism of the sixties by dissolving it in a flood of inexpensive psychedelic drugs.  See CIA's Sidney Gottlieb:  Pusher, Assassin & Pimp, by CounterPunch.org., Meet Sidney Gottlieb -- CIA Dirty Trickster, by Sarah Foster, and Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, directed by Stanley Kubrick.  Dr. Strangelove is a character some say was inspired by Dr. Gottlieb.

[LC-4] Sometimes leaders tell their disciples to go crazy, and sometimes they do so at the behest of their followers.  Here, Tommy teaches his students to induce a catatonic condition as a spiritual method.  In the traditional Sufi story quoted below, we have an example of how a king with insufficient self-confidence allowed himself to be bullied into madness.  Whether pressured by superiors or peers to abandon our own best judgment, we should reject the influence, and uphold the sovereignty of our own minds.

The Parable of the Poisoned Well

There was once a wise king who ruled over a vast city. He was feared for his might and loved for his wisdom. Now in the heart of the city, there was a well whose waters were pure and crystalline from which the king and all the inhabitants drank. When all were asleep, an enemy entered the city and poured seven drops of a strange liquid into the well. And he said that henceforth all who drink this water shall become mad.

All the people drank of the water, but not the king. And the people began to say, "The king is mad and has lost his reason. Look how strangely he behaves. We cannot be ruled by a madman, so he must be dethroned."

The king grew very fearful, for his subjects were preparing to rise against him. So one evening, he ordered a golden goblet to be filled from the well, and he drank deeply. The next day, there was great rejoicing among the people, for their beloved king had finally regained his reason.

--Author Unknown

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