What's Tommy's birthday? (Another Who thread...)

[jmowreader]

You need to have seen the movie Tommy to know when Tommy Walker was born, because the version of the song the information's in is only in the movie. (I've got about six different versions of Tommy; in most this song is about ten seconds long.)

So:

1) What song is the information in?
2) What's the date?
3) And how did Townshend phrase it?

Answers before the end of the day.

[Dookus]

1. May 8th, 1945

Don't know that it's phrased, but the movie shows the VE celebrations occurring as Tommy is born.

There are lyrics saying "There's a joyful celebration in the street, a boy born on this first day of peace" but he doesn't mention the date itself. we have to infer. It's in "Captain Walker/It's a Boy"

[jmowreader]

2. Exactly, Dookus

Another difference between the record and the movie: On the record Tommy's mother's lover was killed by his dad in 1921 (the song that contains the line "you didn't hear it, you didn't see it, you won't say nothin' to no one never in your life, you never heard it, how absurd it all seems without any proof"--what is sung after the murder--is called 1921) and in the movie, Tommy's dad was killed by "Uncle Frank" in 1951.

But the movie and the record are really close, and in some places I like the movie's songs better. I love the "Do you think it's alright?" phrase that introduces Cousin Kevin: "D'ya think it's alright, to leave the boy with Cousin Kevin? D'ya think it's alright? There's something 'bout him I don't really like! D'ya think it's alright?" which isn't on the record at all--then again, not all the more entertaining stuff won't fit on a double album. The guy playing the pump organ leading the followers into Tommy's Holiday Camp (it's Keith Moon) is lots of fun, as is the song.