Steve Martin as Maxwell in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the Movie)
We’re coming into the Halloween season, and I thought I’d write about a couple of more Halloween-y songs. I came across Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, a cheerful little song about a serial killer by The Beatles. I had no idea when I delved into its history that this song may be the reason that The Beatles broke up!
I know, I know, that sounds like hyperbole. Besides, everybody knows that Yoko broke up the group. (Except that she really didn’t.) There were a lot of things that combined to break up the group and Maxwell may have been the proverbial last straw.
Wha?
So, let’s go back to 1967, and the death of Brian Epstein. Brian had been the manager of the group. He died, and no one knew who was in charge. Paul McCartney stepped up to the plate, but the others didn’t like having him tell them what to do. I can see the points on both sides of this argument. Someone needed to be in charge. But that someone needed to be outside the group.
Many critics have noted that by the time we get to the White Album in 1968, (actually entitled The Beatles) what we had was no longer the group as a whole. The songs are all John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band, Ringo and the band. Each one taking charge on their song, and just playing and doing backup vocals on the others’ songs. They had ceased being a group.
This doesn’t mean that the music wasn’t amazing. Some of it is. But the group dynamic had changed
.
While they were in India in 1968, Paul began writing Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. He’d hoped to include it on the White Album, but the song just didn’t make it in. Finally, while they were working on the Abbey Road album, Paul insisted that Maxwell be put on it. The others hated it, thinking it was stupid, and just another one of Paul’s “grannie” songs. Paul put his foot down and insisted they put in three days of work to get the song just right. John and Yoko had been in a car accident just the week before, and so John isn’t even on the song. Ringo called it “the worst track we ever had to record.”
A part of me can see the complaints. It has an olde-timey music-hall feel to it. This is one of the reasons that George Martin, The Beatles recording producer, in his memoir All You Need is Ears has called McCartney the best tunesmith of the 20th century. Note he said “tunesmith” not composer or songwriter. A tunesmith forges catchy tunes. And that is exactly what Paul is best at. Catchy tunes.
What the song is about
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a very catchy tune about a serial killer. Really? Paul says: Maxwell's Silver Hammer was my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life. I wanted something symbolic of that, so to me it was some fictitious character called Maxwell with a silver hammer. I don't know why it was silver, it just sounded better than Maxwell's hammer. It was needed for scanning. Hmm. OK, then.
Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical
Science in the home
Late nights all alone with a test tube
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine
Calls her on the phone
"Can I take you out to the pictures
Joa, oa, oa, oan?"
But as she's getting ready to go
A knock comes on the door
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead
Back in school again Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant
Sce, e, e, ene
She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing fifty times "I must not be
So, o, o, o"
But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead
P. C. Thirty-one said, "We caught a dirty one"
Maxwell stands alone
Painting testimonial pictures
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Rose and Valerie, screaming from the gallery
Say he must go free
(Maxwell must go free)
The judge does not agree and he tells them
So, o, o, o
But as the words are leaving his lips
A noise comes from behind
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead
Whoa, oh, oh, oh
Silver hammer man
Wait! Pataphysical?
Pataphysical is borrowed from the writings of Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), a French writer who is considered to be one the precursors of Theatre of the Absurd. (The wild rabbit holes this blog is leading us down!) OK, Theatre of the Absurd is basically what it sounds like. Plays that are inherently ridiculous. This is a movement that started in the 1950s and is derived from the philosophy of nihilism, which is, in a nutshell, the belief that everything in life is a crock of doo-doo. Pataphysical has hundreds of definitions. I’m going to stick with this one supplied by Miriam-Webster: intricate and whimsical nonsense intended as a parody of science.
Contractually, every song that John Lennon or Paul McCartney wrote had to bear the names of them both at this period in time. This song is pure McCartney. What is your favorite Beatles’ song? What do you think of this song? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be posting some Beatles music this week on my Minnich Music FaceBook page this week, so be sure to check them out.
Until next time!
I know, I know, that sounds like hyperbole. Besides, everybody knows that Yoko broke up the group. (Except that she really didn’t.) There were a lot of things that combined to break up the group and Maxwell may have been the proverbial last straw.
Wha?
So, let’s go back to 1967, and the death of Brian Epstein. Brian had been the manager of the group. He died, and no one knew who was in charge. Paul McCartney stepped up to the plate, but the others didn’t like having him tell them what to do. I can see the points on both sides of this argument. Someone needed to be in charge. But that someone needed to be outside the group.
Many critics have noted that by the time we get to the White Album in 1968, (actually entitled The Beatles) what we had was no longer the group as a whole. The songs are all John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band, Ringo and the band. Each one taking charge on their song, and just playing and doing backup vocals on the others’ songs. They had ceased being a group.
This doesn’t mean that the music wasn’t amazing. Some of it is. But the group dynamic had changed
.
While they were in India in 1968, Paul began writing Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. He’d hoped to include it on the White Album, but the song just didn’t make it in. Finally, while they were working on the Abbey Road album, Paul insisted that Maxwell be put on it. The others hated it, thinking it was stupid, and just another one of Paul’s “grannie” songs. Paul put his foot down and insisted they put in three days of work to get the song just right. John and Yoko had been in a car accident just the week before, and so John isn’t even on the song. Ringo called it “the worst track we ever had to record.”
A part of me can see the complaints. It has an olde-timey music-hall feel to it. This is one of the reasons that George Martin, The Beatles recording producer, in his memoir All You Need is Ears has called McCartney the best tunesmith of the 20th century. Note he said “tunesmith” not composer or songwriter. A tunesmith forges catchy tunes. And that is exactly what Paul is best at. Catchy tunes.
What the song is about
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a very catchy tune about a serial killer. Really? Paul says: Maxwell's Silver Hammer was my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life. I wanted something symbolic of that, so to me it was some fictitious character called Maxwell with a silver hammer. I don't know why it was silver, it just sounded better than Maxwell's hammer. It was needed for scanning. Hmm. OK, then.
Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical
Science in the home
Late nights all alone with a test tube
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine
Calls her on the phone
"Can I take you out to the pictures
Joa, oa, oa, oan?"
But as she's getting ready to go
A knock comes on the door
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead
Back in school again Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant
Sce, e, e, ene
She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing fifty times "I must not be
So, o, o, o"
But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead
P. C. Thirty-one said, "We caught a dirty one"
Maxwell stands alone
Painting testimonial pictures
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Rose and Valerie, screaming from the gallery
Say he must go free
(Maxwell must go free)
The judge does not agree and he tells them
So, o, o, o
But as the words are leaving his lips
A noise comes from behind
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead
Whoa, oh, oh, oh
Silver hammer man
Wait! Pataphysical?
Pataphysical is borrowed from the writings of Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), a French writer who is considered to be one the precursors of Theatre of the Absurd. (The wild rabbit holes this blog is leading us down!) OK, Theatre of the Absurd is basically what it sounds like. Plays that are inherently ridiculous. This is a movement that started in the 1950s and is derived from the philosophy of nihilism, which is, in a nutshell, the belief that everything in life is a crock of doo-doo. Pataphysical has hundreds of definitions. I’m going to stick with this one supplied by Miriam-Webster: intricate and whimsical nonsense intended as a parody of science.
Contractually, every song that John Lennon or Paul McCartney wrote had to bear the names of them both at this period in time. This song is pure McCartney. What is your favorite Beatles’ song? What do you think of this song? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be posting some Beatles music this week on my Minnich Music FaceBook page this week, so be sure to check them out.
Until next time!
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