Songfacts®:

• The rock opera Tommy tells the story of a "deaf, dumb, and blind" kid who becomes a "Pinball Wizard" and then a spiritual leader. The narrative is told over the course of two albums.
  
  "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" is the sixth track on the first side of the second album (third side overall) and acts as a transition between two narratively important songs, "Go To The Mirror!" and "Smash the Mirror."
  
  In "Go to the Mirror!" a doctor (played by Jack Nicholson in the film version) tells Tommy's parents that their son's lifelong handicap is entirely psychosomatic, basically meaning it's all in his head. That song leads into "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" In this track, the lyrics are meant to be the words of Tommy's mother, who is extra frustrated by Tommy's inability to hear her now that she knows it's all in his head.
  
  "Tommy Can You Hear Me" leads into "Smash the Mirror," in which Tommy can indeed see his own reflection, but still doesn't register seeing his mother, which enrages her so much, she shoves Tommy through a mirror. This scene leads to Tommy's eventual awakening as a spiritual figure.
• Guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, and bass guitarist John Entwistle all sing together on this one and share the songwriting credits.
• Bob Dylan references this song in "Murder Most Foul" with the lyric, "Tommy, can you hear me? I'm the Acid Queen." That line also mentions "The Acid Queen," which is another track on Tommy.