Uh Dave Gwyn called

[westen44]

I always found Maxwell's Silver Hammer refreshingly homicidal.

Hate may be too strong of a word to refer to the song.  I would reserve that word for "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number.)  In my book, that was the worst Beatles song ever recorded.  Paul McCartney, however, seemed to love that song for reasons which are baffling.  As much as I like Jimi Hendrix, he also had a song I detested called "Taking Care Of No Business." 

[Pilgrim]

Not to mention rather gleeful!

[gearHed289]

I like Maxwell's.... Fun, if not slightly disturbing tune.

You Know My Name - Man, I was trippin balls the first time I heard that and remember laughing my ass off through the whole thing, so I like that too. 

[westen44]

I like Maxwell's.... Fun, if not slightly disturbing tune.

You Know My Name - Man, I was trippin balls the first time I heard that and remember laughing my ass off through the whole thing, so I like that too. 

The song may have a polarizing effect on people.  I've heard people say different things about it.  Like that it kind of has a Zappa feel to it.  Or that it may have been something the Beatles enjoyed themselves, but not everybody who listened to it liked it.  Or that the Beatles did the song to give other bands a break, etc.  Personally, I remember how surprised I was at how much I disliked it.  Because more often than not I liked Beatles songs.  I don't much like 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer" either, but it's okay.  Ringo's quote on "Maxwell."

"The worst session ever was 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.' It was the worst track we ever had to record. It went on for f***ing weeks. I thought it was mad."

[uwe]

People are fascinated with crime and murder, that is just a fact of life (and death). More people are murdered in German crime TV series every week than our real annual statistic of homicides which in 2019 was less than 250 in a population of 80 million.

Even as a child, I never took Maxwell's Silver Hammer as anything else but morbid humour the Limeys are known for. And it's tuneful alright, one of Paul's typical English Music Hall ditties.

But my favourite murder ballad is of course this here:



And very true: Statistically, the person who loves you is the most likely one to kill you.

[Pilgrim]

"Even as a child, I never took Maxwell's Silver Hammer as anything else but morbid humour the Limeys are known for. And it's tuneful alright, one of Paul's typical English Music Hall ditties."

Nicely said, and right on target as far as I'm concerned. Not everything is a serious proposal for action or social commentary. The Beatles wrote a lot of fairly whimsical stuff and didn't always take themselves seriously. I think of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,"  "Dig a Pony," and "Rocky Raccoon."

[Dave W]

Funny coincidence, someone at TDPRI started a Post Your Favorite Murder Ballad thread the other day, it's now eight pages long. I never imagined there were so many, but sure enough, I know most of them. Maxwell's Silver Hammer was mentioned.

[Granny Gremlin]

refreshingly homicidal.

I just, I mean; what?

Are you going Pink on us (do you have a favorite, I dunno, axe perhaps? ...Ostensibly in some suitcase on the left?... oh wait, that would be boringly homicidal)?

[uwe]

I'm a morbid character myself. I've never had issues with death (the process) or dead people. I was perhaps 8 or 9 when my dad took me to see my first corpse, the poor guy was the first known drug casualty in our town. Dad thought it would teach me a lesson and warn me of heroin, mom was aghast about him taking me ... At the funeral place where the guy was on display, I was captivated ... He looked angelic, a bit like that blond gay vampire in Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers. I thought: How cool is this, a real dead person ... Of course, my dad would later on deny ever taking me there.  :green: You know how adults are.

Anyway, not only did I not turn into a heroin addict (even though I believe I could handle a shot, I'm just not an addictive personality at all), I've retained a lifelong curiosity in death even though I'm neither religious nor do I believe in the supernatural. I've seen the dead bodies of my grandparents and my parents, I felt sadness about their passing, but no discomfort, much less revulsion at their (not so pretty) mortal shells.

Both my children had their first names (Teresa and Leon) chosen on cemeteries (they both know and think it's hilarious), I'm a big cemetery goer and obituary reader, funerals hold no dread for me. I mourn the loss of life, not the dead body - I guess I have a matter-of-fact biological attitude to things.

Now that doesn't mean that I dream of killing people or deem murder - or the death penalty for that matter - socially or ethically acceptable (extreme scenarios excepted, for instance, I wouldn't have had issues shooting Adolf Hitler to prevent what happened, not to execute him in the aftermath). But I never thought that Paul was advocating homicide with MSH either!

[Dave W]

When I was about 15, new neighbors moved in, a couple with two kids under 10. My mother was looking forward to being friendly with them b/c the man's older brother was one of her high school friends. But it turned out that their chief interest was visiting cemeteries every weekend with their children, and that's all they could talk about. Then when another neighbor died in an auto accident, the wife went up and down the street at 6 in the morning to be the first to tell all the other neighbors about it. Too morbid.

[uwe]

"I like to watch things grow .. grow and bloom ... fade and die ... and change into something else!"



Lovely movie, I could always relate.