Who – Go To The Mirror

I just can’t get enough of this band. Not counting the Beatles…this is the band I would take to a deserted island and listen to. Not only in the studio but especially live. In their concert prime, between 69-76, they were untouchable in pure rock.

This song is on their Tommy album. I just listened to the album again and I have only one complaint. The production is thin and they don’t sound like The WHO. I have the studio and live version at the bottom. When they took this album on the road it really blossomed and turned into a Who mini opera. Their next album Live At Leeds and Who’s Next made them, along with Led Zeppelin, two of the biggest bands of the 70s.

Tommy is about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who plays pinball. He is not really deaf, dumb, or blind but he dissociates himself from society and those around him. No one can break through his shell.

This song is about him seeing a doctor. The doctor confirms that there is nothing physically wrong with Tommy and his condition is caused by mental blocks from trauma as a kid. The doctor says Tommy will come out naturally. He is encouraged to go to the mirror where they know he is getting some kind of stimulation. In the mirror Tommy sings to his enlightened self “listening to you”, furthering his spiritual journey.

It’s a song that you will hear the familiar refrains running through this concept album. The “See Me, Feel Me” and “Listening to you, I get the music” parts.

Go To The Mirror

He seems to be completely unreceptiveThe tests I gave him show no sense at allHis eyes react to light the dials detect itHe hears but cannot answer to your call

See me, feel me, touch me, heal meSee me, feel me, touch me, heal me

There is no chance no untried operationAll hope lies with him and none with meImagine though the shock from isolationWhen he suddenly can hear and speak and see

See me, feel me, touch me, heal meSee me, feel me, touch me, heal me

His eyes can seeHis ears can hear his lips speakAll the time the needles flick and rockNo machine can give the kind of stimulationNeeded to remove his inner block

Go to the mirror boy!Go to the mirror boy!

I often wonder what he is feelingHas he ever heard a word I’ve said?Look at him in the mirror dreamingWhat is happening in his head?

Listening to you, I get the musicGazing at you, I get the heatFollowing you, I climb the mountainI get excitement at your feet!

Right behind you, I see the millionsOn you, I see the gloryFrom you, I get opinionsFrom you, I get the story

What is happening in his headOoooh I wish I knew, I wish I knew

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

36 thoughts on “Who – Go To The Mirror”

  1. The Who are one of my all-time favourite bands too. Their ‘Who’s Next’ album is my fav, closely followed by ‘Tommy’ and ‘Quadrophenia’. I wish I’d seen them ‘live’ with the original line up.

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    1. As much of a Beatles fan as I am…the original lineup of the Who draws me just as strong. Yea I wish I could have seen them with Moon. I did see them with Entwistle.

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    2. Who’s Next is an all time classic album, every song could be a hit (most of them were), but musically for me, Quadrophenia is the greatest musically. I would have loved to see them live too, especially with Keith Moon on drums.

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    1. I always thought their live rendition of it was the one I like best.
      When I listen to this and the next studio album Who’s Next…there is no comparison in production.

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  4. Realizing the opera’s narrative was difficult to understand, Townshend explained a synopsis of the story, before the Who played Tommy all the way through at full stage volume. I think I read that Tommy was looking in the mirror when he saw him mom kill his dad.

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    1. At one time I really got it…and then it left. The confusing one with Pete is the Lifehouse Project…that one is really confusing…the one where Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again came from.

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    1. Something about them drew me in like The Beatles…more than the Stones or Zeppelin…I think it’s because they evolved more and tried risky things.

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    1. The album translated so well live….I love hearing them do this live…nothing against the album because I love it.
      I need to watch the movie again…Reed, Nicholson, and yea…Ann Margret…she had to be a surprise actress in this movie.

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      2. I agree with your last line…putting them together was dangerous. I always like Jack…I also like when he goes over the top. Even small parts like Easy Rider he was great at.

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  7. I remember buying the album, and how the concept blew me away, and still does. Like CB, I darn near wore the vinyl out, but it’s still playable. Saw them live back in their destructive days and was aghast at Townsend destroying his Super Beatle amp and what looked to be a Rickenbacker guitar. The entire ending made no sense to anyone that was a musician. Now they use little tiny amps that weigh about ten pounds and could be kicked 50 feet with a swift boot.

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    1. Oh how I would have loved to see them in those years with Moon Phil…Almost…very close to me wanting to see The Beatles.
      From what I read….the roadies put most of the stuff back together because they ran in the Red because of it….and Moon’s drums.

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      2. Especially a Rick…not the most sturdy guitars to begin with…a Fender you can use as a bat and it still works…I’ve seen Peavy amps fall off of trucks and still work…but Ricks and Marshalls…NO

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      3. Looking back at some old film, they didn’t tear it up as bad as it looked. Some new speaker cloth and a cheap guitar that looked similar to a Rick. But it sure looked like mayhem from the audience.

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  8. I really liked the Who in the 60s but by the time the 70s were ending I had lost them or they had lost me. But this song and the album were getting near the crest of the wave, at least for for me.

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  9. Excellent, Max. The Who is one of those bands I need to take some time with to fully appreciate their musical genius and brilliant, incisive lyrics. Tommy is every one who has been traumatized, and they speak for him.

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      1. Max, I saw the movie, Tommy, and had my heart grieving for Tommy, and hatred spewing towards those who didn’t protect him and to the perpetrator. I did not know it was based on Townshend’s childhood trauma, which makes it twice as poignant 😦 He turned the dark to light with his music, which is what creative and performing arts are so good at doing.

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      2. Oh yea….there is a nasty song called Fiddle About that Pete told Entwistle to write because he just couldn’t because of the trauma…it’s so nasty but Pete was happy with it because it was just what he wanted. I will have to check Lisa but I think it was Pete’s grandfather if I remember right…or an uncle.

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