Maxwell's Silver Hammer

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
Song by The Beatles from the album Abbey Road
Released	26 September 1969
Recorded	9-11 July, 6 August 1969
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:27
Label	Apple Records
Writer	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Abbey Road track listing
17 tracks Side one "Come Together" "Something" "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" "Oh! Darling" "Octopus's Garden" "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Side two "Here Comes the Sun" "Because" "You Never Give Me Your Money" "Sun King" "Mean Mr. Mustard" "Polythene Pam" "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" "Golden Slumbers" "Carry That Weight" "The End" "Her Majesty"

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by The Beatles, on their album, Abbey Road, sung by Paul McCartney. It was written by McCartney, though credited to Lennon–McCartney.^[1]

Background

The song was written in October 1968, intended for the album The Beatles, but missed off due to time constraints. It was rehearsed again three months later, in January 1969, at Twickenham film studios during the Get Back sessions but would not be recorded for another six months.^[2]

Beatles guitarist George Harrison described the song in 1969 as "one of those instant whistle-along tunes which some people hate, and other people really like. It's a fun song, but it's kind of a drag because Maxwell keeps on destroying everyone like his girlfriend then the school teacher, and then, finally, the judge." In 1994, McCartney said that the song merely epitomises the downfalls of life, being "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. We still use that expression now when something unexpected happens."^[3]

Recording

Recording began at Abbey Road Studios on 9 July 1969. John Lennon, who had been absent from recording sessions for the previous eight days after being injured in a car crash, arrived to work on the song, accompanied by his wife, Yoko Ono, who, more badly hurt in the accident than Lennon, lay on a large double-bed in the studio.^[4][5] Sixteen takes of the rhythm track were made, followed by a series of guitar overdubs.^[5] The unused fifth take can be heard on Anthology 3. Over the following two days the group overdubbed vocals, piano, Hammond organ, anvil, and guitar. The song was completed on 6 August, when McCartney recorded a solo on a Moog synthesizer.^[5]

The recording subsequently drew comment from the band: Lennon said "I was ill after the accident when they did most of that track, and it really ground George and Ringo into the ground recording it", adding later "I hate it, 'cos all I remember is the track ... He did everything to make it into a single, and it never was and it never could have been."^[6] Harrison characterised the song as "fruity" and commented "we spent a hell of a lot of time on it", and later "after a while, we did a good job on it".^[7] McCartney recalled: "The only arguments were about things like me spending three days on Maxwell's Silver Hammer. I remember George saying, 'You've taken three days, it's only a song.' – 'Yeah, but I want to get it right. I've got some thoughts on this one.' It was early-days Moog work and it did take a bit of time".^[8]

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, overdubbed guitar, piano, Moog synthesizer
• George Harrison – backing vocals, guitar, bass
• Ringo Starr – drums, backing vocals, anvil*
• George Martin – organ
• Mal Evans – anvil*

Personnel according to Ian MacDonald^[9], Andy Babiuk^[10] and Mark Lewisohn^[2]

*For the studio version of the song, the anvil was played by Starr;^[9][10][2] in the Beatles film Let It Be, however, Evans is seen hitting the anvil as the Beatles record the track.

Reception

In a review of Abbey Road upon its release in 1969, Rolling Stone magazine observed that in "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", McCartney "celebrates the joys of being able to bash in the heads of anyone threatening to bring you down. [He] puts it across perfectly with the coyest imaginable choir-boy innocence".^[11]

Notable cover versions

In the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the song is performed by comedian Steve Martin, who portrays the character Maxwell Edison. Frankie Laine also covered the song as part of the musical documentary All This and World War II, which featured stock and newsreel footage of the Second World War set to performances of music by The Beatles.

Child star Jack Wild recorded a version of this song for his first studio album, The Jack Wild Album. The English indie rock band Let's Wrestle covered the song for the 2009 Mojo compilation album Abbey Road Now!, an album in which numerous artists covered the whole of the Abbey Road album.

Jessica Mitford, of the famous Mitford family, recorded the song in 1995 under the name "Decca and the Dectones".

Notes

1. ^ Sheff 2000, p. 202.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Lewisohn 1988, p. 179.
3. ^ Miles 1997, p. 554.
4. ^ Miles and Badman 2003.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Lewisohn 1988.
6. ^ Playboy interviews 1981, p. 171.
7. ^ Crawdaddy Magazine 1977.
8. ^ The Beatles Bible 2009.
9. ^ ^{a b} MacDonald 2005, p. 357.
10. ^ ^{a b} Babiuk 2002, p. 256.
11. ^ Rolling Stone 1969.

References

• Babiuk, Andy (2002). Beatles' Gear: All The Fab Four's Instruments, from Stage to Studio (Second Revised ed.). London: BackBeat Books (Outline Press). ISBN 0-87930-731-5. 
• Patton Oswalt (2004) (CD). Feelin' Kinda Patton. United Musicians. 
• "George Harrison Interview". Crawdaddy Magazine. 1977-02. http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1977.0200.beatles.html. Retrieved 1 July 2009. 
• "The Beatles Abbey Road". Rolling Stone. 1969-11-15. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/abbey-road-19691115. Retrieved 15 September 20011. 
• "Interview with Ringo Starr". Rolling Stone. January 2008. 
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. 
• MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3. 
• "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". The Beatles Bible. 2009. http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/maxwells-silver-hammer/. Retrieved 5 November 2009. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. Secker and Warburg. ISBN 978-0749386580. 
• Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith. The Beatles Diary: The Beatles Years. Omnibus Press; 2001. ISBN 978-0-7119-8308-3.
• Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. ISBN 0-8160-3979-8. 
• "The Playboy Interviews With John Lennon and Yoko Ono". Playboy (Putnam Pub Group). 1981. ISBN 978-0872237056. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
• Sulpy, Doug; Schweighardt, Ray (1999). Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of The Beatles' Let it Be Disaster. Macmillan. ISBN 0312199813.