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7.33pm
17 October 2013
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I think your interpretation is as valid as any other……..
I don’t think you can make a case throughout the lyrics that holds to this interpretation consistently…….but it doesn’t have to. The snippet you mention seems to make sense.
I’d always thought ‘pataphysical’ was a made up ‘John type word’ I didn’t know it’s definition ….so thanks for that…….and it does suit him.
If Maxwell, (2 syllables) is McCartney, (3 syllables) perhaps as suggested in the linke below Paul is wanting to clonk the Yokos and Kleins of his world and be done with them?
Or maybe it’s just a typically violent nursery rhyme?…….Or Punch and Judy inspired story……(Where the term ‘slap-stick’ comes from).
Although the link says John wasn’t there for the recording that finally made the ‘cut’………He’d sat through it often enough in rehearsals to be sick of it.
Ha maybe that in itself was Paul’s little tinkling hammer of tedium……..’If this doesn’t drive Yoko to piss off and go for a coffee somewhere she can just put up with it!’
See Ahhh Girl’s link it works
8.02pm
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20 August 2013
Offline Your link doesn’t seem to work. I think this is what you are pointing us to… http://www.songfacts.com/detai…..php?id=193
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5.00am
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1 May 2011
Offline John was in the studio when they recorded it but he didnt play on it. This is the track where the bed was wheeled in for Yoko.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
7.47pm
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20 August 2013
Offline To keep with the idea of Yoko being Maxwell, first (s)he kills John (the love), Paul (the teacher who taught John how to tune a guitar and taught John the proper words to many 50’s songs), and lastly George (the one who sat in judgement most of Yoko’s presence in the studio). Far fetched, but this is a safe forum to put ideas out there.
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8.25pm
8 January 2015
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It’s practically Paul’s projection MO down pat 😀
I’ve always found it weird that you’re meant to assume Joan and Maxwell had some kind of argument but she clearly said yes to Maxwell’s date, so why did he kill her? She must have felt guilty about those late nights. Why did he have to make sure? By now we realize Maxwell has an issue with uppity females after he disposes of a teacher. What kind of dumb murderer keeps the murder weapon to use on a second victim? And brings it to school? It must have been how he was caught by PC 31 who should have been promoted after the detectives messed about with the case.
So what is everyone doing in court while Maxwell is sneaking up on the judge? PC 31 not keeping an eye on the prize? Rose and Valerie all tired out after a long scream? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT, PAUL? WHY IS HE NEVER ASKED ABOUT THIS?!
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but I may have to get more specific in the future.
8.31pm
17 October 2013
Offline I know it’s tenuous in the extreme………
But it was exactly this suggestion by Ahhh Girl’s that set off a train of thought that somehow ended up as a dark little mini Saga that I posted over in the poetry thread…..
Title
‘A leading expert in his field studies a note written 150 years before.’
“Dear Nancy,
Here’s what you asked for.
Love Freda.”
The professor examined the auctioned lock of hair and it’s provenance.
‘That’s the last one, cloning can begin…… The Fabricated Four..How wonderful,’ he said.
Behind him, teasing a hair from a small top-hat his assistant muttered darkly……..’Fab Five’.
9.05pm
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20 August 2013
Offline I too want to know what happens next in the Maxwell story, ewe2. I suppose Paul didn’t know so we can’t either.
Glad I could be your muse, if for only one poem, Wigwam.
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3.36pm
27 February 2017
Offline I’ve always wondered if the scientific references that are made in the lyrics have another purpose than just to built up a more scary psychopathic character. For example Maxwell and Edison have both been scientists, are their names beeing chosen because the syllables fit or did Paul intentionally chose them for the field they worked in?Maybe this is a bit overinterpretated but I just wonder if maybe someone knows a little more about the lyrics.
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11.05pm
8 January 2015
Offline Yes, i think the mad scientist persona is definitely suggested. But I don’t think bzzt bzzt Maxwell’s silver electrode came down and shock her hair has the same firmness as a hammer. Although there’s certainly magnetism implied.
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7.52pm
9 March 2017
Offline I absolutely love Maxwell’s Silver Hammer , it’s an upbeat pop/rock tune about some guy who kills people but since I started using this forum, I started to realize that some people actually don’t like this song. I don’t get it, this is one of The Beatles greatest songs yet people seem to hate it, so I made this thread so this great catchy song could get some love that is well deserved. I think Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a great song and just thinking about it makes me want to grab my guitar and play it while singing along.
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4.20am
6 July 2016
Offline I’ve never been a big fan of this song. Just reading up about it I never knew it was written just too late to be included on The White Album . I think it would have fitted better on that album along with Honey Pie etc. I think Paul was always at his best when he wrote intuitively. This doesn’t sound intuitive to me, it sounds synthetic and over thought out. Strange that John and Ringo both remember them working on it for weeks when it only actually took three days to record. I wonder if they did lots of rehearsals and that’s what they remember? At least this was Mal’s finest moment.
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4.57am
19 January 2017
Offline Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a great song and definitely up there with When I’m Sixty-Four when it comes to Pauls granny songs. It tells a fun creepy story and the instrumentation is great throughout, especially the Moog. It completely blows Honey Pie out of the water.
Interesting point about it not sounding intuitive @Leppo since i’d argue that most of Abbey Road is over thought out. Hence why it’s only number 5 in my Beatles album ranking. Even so, if a song is good then it’s good and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer certainly fits that category.
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6.18am
9 March 2017
Offline How did John remember it, I thought that he was only on the Get Back version, I know that he isn’t on the finished product, making George do the acoustic guitar and Ringo replace him in the 3 part harmonies. Also, I wouldn’t call this Paul’s granny s**t music (at least that’s what John calls it), this song doesn’t sound old like When I’m 64 or Honey Pie , Maxwell’s Silver Hammer sounds more to me like an upbeat pop rock song from the 1960’s.
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6.37am
19 January 2017
Offline Dark Overlord said
Also, I wouldn’t call this Paul’s granny s**t music (at least that’s what John calls it), this song doesn’t sound old like When I’m 64 or Honey Pie , Maxwell’s Silver Hammer sounds more to me like an upbeat pop rock song from the 1960’s.
Yep It’s less of a granny song then When I’m 64 and Honey Pie but it is still a music hall style song so it’s in the same ballpark. I feel the same way about Your Mother Should Know .
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9.32am
26 January 2017
Offline Leppo said
I’ve never been a big fan of this song. Just reading up about it I never knew it was written just too late to be included on The White Album . I think it would have fitted better on that album along with Honey Pie etc. I think Paul was always at his best when he wrote intuitively. This doesn’t sound intuitive to me, it sounds synthetic and over thought out. Strange that John and Ringo both remember them working on it for weeks when it only actually took three days to record. I wonder if they did lots of rehearsals and that’s what they remember? At least this was Mal’s finest moment.
If you listen through the Twickenham and Apple studio rehearsals, they play it over and over without stopping. Listening through them honestly kind of ruined the song for me. They play it SO many times, but not as many times as Get Back .
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12.07pm
6 July 2016
Offline Ok that makes sense Sir Walter.
Flyingbrians said
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a great song and definitely up there with When I’m Sixty-Four
Up where? When I’m Sixty Four isn’t great either.
It completely blows Honey Pie out of the water.
That’s not really saying much is it? 
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12.55pm
8 January 2015
Offline I like the song, and I think the production is interesting, but it never warranted the over-rehearsal of it, a minor miracle that it sounds fresh at all. I think it demonstrates very well the difference between the creator’s opinion of a work and the reception by others. It’s well crafted, but skill is useless as a barometer of popularity. Pros: its a surprisingly creepy lyric coming from Paul, and a minor historic milestone for the use of electronic music. Cons: it’s the obsessive side of Paul, like its sister track Oh Darling!, completely at odds with the simplicity of the tunes and you wonder what they might have been without the infighting.
Also one of the nicest covers of this song:
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4.59pm
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15 February 2015
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I love it. It’s delightfully creepy lyrically, but absurdly lighthearted musically. Good contrast, in quite a morbid way.
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2.15am
15 March 2017
Offline I have mixed feelings about this song. It has quite clever lyrics and is performed well but I don’t go out of my way to listen to this song. I will listen to it when I am listening to Abbey Road but don’t feel the need to listen to it at any other time but I certainly don’t hate it though.
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3.47am
19 January 2017
Offline Leppo said
Flyingbrians said
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a great song and definitely up there with When I’m Sixty-FourUp where? When I’m Sixty Four isn’t great either.
Up there with the best of Paul’s music hall ‘granny’ tunes, not his overall Beatles songs. I like to put the granny songs in a category of their own.
I agree that When I’m Sixty Four isn’t particularly great, it’s my least favourite song on Sgt. Pepper but I still enjoy it. Likewise Maxwell Silver’s Hammer is probably my least favourite song on Abbey Road .
"And life flows on within you and without you" - George Harrison
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