The Who's Tommy - Twenty-One / What About the Boy?

1996 West End
The Who's Tommy the Musical - Twenty-One / What About the Boy? Lyrics

(Mrs. Walker is celebrating her birthday with her 4 year old son Tommy,
and her new love. With his shirt off and very much at home,
the Lover watches as Tommy impatiently waits for his piece of cake.)

MRS. WALKER: (to her lover)
Gotta feelin' twenty-one
Is gonna be a good year
Especially if you and me
See it in together.

LOVER: (to Mrs. Walker)
Now you're twenty-one
You're ready for a new year.
Let's marry now
And celebrate forever.

MRS. WALKER:
I had no reason to be over-optimistic,
But somehow when you smile
I can brave bad weather.

MRS. WALKER & LOVER:
Gotta feelin' twenty-one Twenty-one today-
Is gonna be a good year

Especially if you and me Your future is with me now.
See it in together.

(Mrs. Walker puts Tommy to bed in the back of the bedroom,
where he gives her a flower.)

MRS. WALKER & LOVER:
Only twenty-one today Now you're twenty-one
And I've grown such a grown-up son. You're ready for a new year.
Wish your Mum a happy day! Let's marry now
And celebrate forever.

FOUR-YEAR OLD TOMMY:
Happy birthday, Mum.

MRS. WALKER: ( to Tommy)
I had no reason to be over-optimistic,
But somehow when you smile
I can brave bad weather.

(Mrs. Walker kisses Tommy goodnight
and rejoins her lover in front room -
who is waiting with a bottle of champagne)

MRS. WALKER & LOVER:
I had no reason to be over-optimistic,
But somehow when you smile
I can brave bad weather.

Instrumental

Returning unexpectedly from the war,
Captain Walker appears at the door late
at night to find Mrs. Walker and her lover in an embrace.
The lover attacks Captain Walker
and the 4 year old Tommy is woken up by the commotion.
Mrs. Walker tries to turn him away from the violent scene
but he faces a mirror in which he witnesses the lover slapping
his mother and threatening to attack his father with a chair.
The father shoots the lover in the head.
The Walkers embrace, helplessly,
then realize that Tommy has seen it all in the mirror.

MRS. WALKER:
What about the boy?

CAPTAIN WALKER:
What about the boy?

BOTH:
What about the boy?
He saw it all!
You didn't hear it,
You didn't see it,
You won't say nothing to no one
Ever in your life.
You never heard it.
How absurd it'll
Seem without any proof.
You didn't hear it,
You didn't see it,
You never heard it, not a word of it.
You won't say nothing to no one.
Never tell a soul
What you know is the..
You didn't hear it,
You didn't see it,
You won't say nothing to no one
Ever in your life.
You never heard it.
How absurd it'll
Seem without any :
You didn't hear it,
You didn't see it,
You never heard it, not a word of it.
You won't say nothing to no one.
Never tell a soul
What you know is the truth.

CAPTAIN WALKER:
What about the boy?