Beatles Countdown #86: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Mar 08
1960s paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments
Coming up at #86 is Paul McCartney’s attempt at dark comedy as he tells the plight of a homicidal maniac in “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer!”
Penned shortly after The White Album sessions in October 1968, the song tells the plight of Maxwell Edision who uses his titular silver hammer to murder his medical school teacher, girlfriend, and finally the judge presiding over his case. Sounds pretty dark for a Beatles song, huh? The vaudevillian song was written by McCartney as an analogy for whenever something goes wrong in life. As he would later say, “It epitomizes the downfalls in life. Just when everything is going smoothly: Bang! Bang! Down comes Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and ruins everything.” On the music itself, George Harrison would comment that it was “one of those instant whistle-along tunes which some people hate and other people really like.” That perhaps would be the nicest thing said about the song by the other three. The dark comedy song first made its appearance in the Let It Be sessions and was captured in the subsequent film as they show Paul McCartney working on it. It wasn’t until their final recording session together for Abbey Road that they dedicated time to it at the behest of Paul McCartney who wanted it to be a single. This is where the “controversy” around the song comes around as I alluded to in “Fixing A Hole.”
Abbey Road would be their final album together after the disastrous recording session for Let It Be. Knowing the end was near, the four got together to put their best foot forward in their last effort. The normal tension was gone for the band as they really rallied around the music and put aside previous problems, even getting behind two of George Harrison’s compositions. However, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer would be the one song off the album that really tried everyone’s patience. As can be seen in the Let It Be film, the band was none-too-happy to be working on the song. Why would they be happy months later when they were trying to forget the whole entirety of those doomed sessions? George Harrison would be quoted as saying, “Sometimes Paul would make us do these really fruity songs. I mean, my god, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was so fruity.” John Lennon, who didn’t appear on the track as he was recovering from a car accident, would later deride the song as typical granny-music from Paul. Lennon would remark over Paul’s obsession over making it a single despite that it was never going to be one. Even Ringo Starr shared his disgust for the song calling it “the worst session ever.” It wasn’t just the song itself that seemed to bother the other three, but also the time it took to record and master it. The band spent three days just on the song in the studio with Paul pushing George & Ringo to get it right with every take. John Lennon himself recalled it was the most expensive track on the album to make because of the time put into it, but based on some other arrangements in other songs, that’s a bit contested. Still, the band’s true feelings on the song remains and years later, the band would still point back to that session as “horrid.” But George was right, it was a fun song that some people hated and other people really liked. The kind you can sing along to real easy. Like the rest of the album, I do enjoy it, but if I had to work on it for three days straight, I might go mad too.
Song: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Album: Abbey Road
Year: 1969
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