Don’t Get Fooled Again

DEAF?

Jeffrey Fayman and Allyson Shelly were both unsettled by my disillusions about rock (Letters, July 19). I hear you guys, but I am misunderstood. I still believe good rock can raise people up emotionally, but in the ‘60s I thought rock could end war and famine and make all men equal. Today I get as much from a day sailing as from an hour listening to Guns N’ Roses, and together they make special magic. I simply listen more keenly to the wind of Aeolus than the wind of Axl.

DUMB?

Jeffrey Negrete asked why I changed the ending to “Tommy”; I didn’t. In my original 1968 “libretto,” it was not Tommy who first urged his followers to ape his pinball stunts; it was the disciples and Uncle Ernie who respectively created the demand and supply. Tommy culpably went along with it. He goes along with it briefly in the latest adaptation too, but after Sally Simpson’s beatings he sings, “. . . Don’t let Uncle Ernie make you play on Tommy’s old machine.” I will try to say it more clearly in future productions.

BLIND?

Shelly Heber took issue with my description of Tommy’s traumatized withdrawal as autism, and I hope I have not caused parents of autistic children discomfort or offense. When I was researching the story in the ‘60s, autism was a new term and new treatments were being tested (including music therapy). I don’t think it was then known what actually caused autism. I have always thought of Tommy as autistic; I can see now I must think again.

PETE TOWNSHEND

At Sea

Cornwall, England