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The third track from Abbey Road tells the story of a student who commits a spontaneous and gruesome murder. Written primarily by Paul McCartney (but, as usual, credited under the Lennon-McCartney moniker), the song is one of many Paul wrote which showed the influence of music hall songs his father p...
[Verse 1]
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
[Chorus]
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead
[Verse 2]
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
[Chorus]
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head (Do-do-do-do-do)
Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead (Do-do-do-do-do)
[Verse 3]
P. C. 31 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
[Chorus]
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head (Do-do-do-do-do)
Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead
[Outro]
Whoa, whoa, whoa-oa
(Do-do-do-do-do)
(Silver hammer man)
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was written by Lennon-McCartney & Paul McCartney.
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was produced by George Martin.
The Beatles released Maxwell’s Silver Hammer on Fri Sep 26 1969.
McCartney describes the song as follows:
‘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...