1921

The Who

Got a feeling '21
Is going to be a good year
Especially if you and me
See it in together

So you think '21
Is going to be a good year
It could be good for me and her
But you and her, no never!
I had no reason to be over optimistic
But somehow when you smiled
I could brave bad weather

What about the boy?
What about the boy?
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
Never in your life
You never heard it
Oh, how absurd it all seems
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 Truth

Got a feeling '21
Is going to be a good year
Especially if you and me
See it in together

Got a feeling '21
Is going to be a good year
Especially if you and me
See it in together

I had no reason to be over optimistic
But somehow when you smiled
I could brave bad weather


Lyrics submitted by oofus

1921 Lyrics as written by Pete Townshend

Lyrics © Spirit Music Group, Abkco Music Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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1921 song meanings
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32 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment
    I fell asleep watching tommy and had the weirdest dreams.
    subterranean_summeron December 18, 2005   Link
  • +3
    General Comment
    oh, another point on this song, very important: The husband walks in, Kills boyfirend, they realize Tommy had seen it and say "you didn't hear it, you didn't see it..." etc. if you notice on the album, the lyrics are echoed, this is Tommy seeing the murder through the mirror, and because of the trauma, the mirror is his gateway into being the deaf, dumb and blind boy as the shattering of the mirror will be his awakening out of that state later.
    regbon October 06, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    yeah...but the album is way better than the movie.....
    Rock Zealoton September 10, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Actually, GABBA, The song isn't about being the age 21, It's about the year 1921.
    Gustavuson October 15, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    It\'s 1921. Tommy was born in 1914, while his father Captain Walker was off fighting World War I, however, he doesn\'t return from the war, so it is assumed he is dead. In this song, Captain Walker finally reappears at home 7 years later to find his wife with another man. Captain Walker murders the other man (Who is the speaker in the first verse of the song) and Tommy watches the whole thing. So they obviously tell him to keep his mouth shut about it, which sends him off into this state of deafness / blindness / dumbness, which affects him throughout most of the album.
    SickandTiredon April 22, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Where to begin? the album is one of the gratest, true. There is a lot of Auto-biography from Pete here, like in most of his songs, because he writes from experience. The autobiographical bomb-shell for Pete himself was the abuse subject in the album (he had not come to terms with his abuse as a child at the time this album was written. The movie needs to e watched a few times to be appreciated, after the first viewing I was disgusted, only because I expected the album on film... As a movie it delivers the same message in an artistic way...Ann Margaret in the beans just shows how rediculously wealthy tommy had become--TV, jewelry, beans soap, mass quantities of consumer products. 1921-1951: not a huge deal, Tommys dad still goes off to war and is MIA, and Tommy becomes a Guru in the 60's which seems like a more appropriate time for that kind of thing anyway. -Reg
    regbon October 06, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    AMAZING. IN ONE WORD. I LOVE TOMMY OF COURSE, AND THIS SONG, FOR SOME RESON, MAKES ME EMOTIONAL I DONT KNOW WHY.. IM NO WERE NEAR 21 IM 13 SO I GOTTA FELLING FOURTEENS GONNA BE A GOOD YEAR.
    GABBA GABBA HEY!on October 09, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Yeah, absolutely fantastic song. Tommy very well may be my favorite album of all-time, and this song is one of the reasons why. I just love the whole concept behind the album.
    rushmore_8on October 11, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    oooooooooooooooooooooh i was gabba but i forgot my pass word
    CADEN MOOREon November 09, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    It's not about being age 21, it's about the year 1921. In the movie, they changed it to 1951.
    whofreak777on November 21, 2004   Link

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