Beatles: Maxwell's Silver Hammer Meaning

Song Released: 1969

Maxwell's Silver Hammer Lyrics

Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical
Science in the home
Late nights all alone with a test-tube
Ohh-oh-oh-oh...
Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine
Calls her on the phone
Can I take you out to the picture
jo-o-o-oan?
But as she’s...

1. anonymous

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   Jun 5th 2011 !⃝

   The Beatles inner circle believe that Maxwell's Silver Hammer is McCartney's retort to Lennon's attack of Stu Sutcliff with a hammer. Apparently, this occurred during a lover's quarrel between the two in Germany. The blow is thought to have resulted in Stu's death later.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. anonymous

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   Jun 5th 2011 !⃝

   Condom use in the inner city.
3. anonymous

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   May 21st 2011 !⃝

   The song is so demented but cute! Maxwell edison is now a real one. That's my parrots name! The love of the crazy kid.
4. anonymous

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   Apr 20th 2011 !⃝

   Maxwell was an MI5 agent who helped cover up Paul McCartney's death in Nov 1966. Maxwell kept threatening the remaining 3 Beatles to keep the cover up quiet. Watch the movie, "Paul McCartney really is dead. George Harrison's last Testament" produced by Highway 61 Entertainment and judge for yourself...it's on Netflix now.

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5. anonymous

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   Jan 20th 2011 !⃝

   That maxwell is a very troubled man. he needded help. he hits people with hammer and then drags them into dumps. rosa parks
6. anonymous

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   Jan 18th 2011 !⃝

   "This song is simply another version of "instant karma". The sudden enlightenment that many people in the 1960's experienced. It means death of the false self or ego and the beginning of asking question like "why in the world are we here, surly not to live in pain and fear" This can't be a version of "instant karma" because instant karma was wrote in the 1970s, I believe. If anything, instant karma was just a version of Maxwell's silver hammer.

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7. anonymous

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   Jan 18th 2011 !⃝

   its literally a silver hammer. he goes around hitting people in the head with an actual silver hammer.
   (and the fact that a murder suspect is able to recover a suspected murder weapon and kill the judge sentencing him with it really says a lot about the security of the law system, doesn't it?)

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
8. anonymous

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   Jan 2nd 2011 !⃝

   Yup it's ust talking about how life hits you with unexpected and inconvenient occurences (the hammer) and how it happens to everyone. Love the song. Long live the Beatles!!
9. anonymous

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   Jan 1st 2011 !⃝

   It's about a serial killer, Maxwell. It's about how life hits you in unexpected ways.
10. anonymous

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    Jul 21st 2010 !⃝

    So I just saw this on Wikipedia and thought it was interesting. In the article on the Pope, the death section says:
    "In recent centuries it was traditional, when a Pope was judged to have died, for the Cardinal Chamberlain to confirm the death ceremonially by gently tapping the Pope's head thrice with a silver hammer, calling his birth name each time."
    
    Not saying it really means anything, just saying maybe...
11. anonymous

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    Jun 23rd 2010 !⃝

    Maybe I've read too much into it, but it sounds like a warning about pharmaceutical companies taking over. Maxwell Edison (majoring in medicine) kills Joan (science), his teacher (education), and the judge (law). Either way, I like my interpretation better... much more prophetic than simply being about bad things happening out of the blue.
12. anonymous

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    Jun 5th 2010 !⃝

    Laughing at Anon for:
    
    "Wow, so much fail. Maxwell is a real guy. He really killed three people in this exact order. And he did it all with a silver hammer. Stop trying to be "deep" when there's nothing to be deep about."
    
    Obviously Googling has name will take you to sites taking the p*$$. Bit of a fail yourself. I'm quite happy to accept Paul's explanation.
13. anonymous

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    Apr 3rd 2010 !⃝

    also:
    Maxwell is considered by many physicists to be the 19th-century scientist with the greatest influence on 20th-century physics. Einstein kept a photograph of Maxwell on his study wall. Maxwell's electromagnetic field discoveries laid the foundation for future work in such fields as special relativity and quantum mechanics (theories which may allude to the relative causation of life and all phenomena over infinity).
14. anonymous

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    Mar 29th 2010 !⃝

    According to FOX news and Associated Press reports:
    
    "When a pope dies, the prefect of the papal household informs the camerlengo, or chamberlain, who will be the most important official running the Holy See in the period between the death of a pope and the election of a new one. The camerlengo must then verify the death — a process which in the past was done by striking the forehead of the pope with a silver hammer. The camerlengo then calls out to the pope three times by his baptismal name. When the pope does not respond, the camerlengo then announces, "The pope is dead." The camerlengo then uses the silver hammer to smash the pope's ring — the papal seal or "ring of the fisherman" — to preclude forgery of official documents."
    
    According to the Associated Press, the practice of hitting the pope with a silver hammer ended in the 1960s.
    
    I think that this song had to do with Paul's doubts about christianity, and that what made more sense to him was the law of causality or karma (more the center of Eastern philosophies, such as buddhism, etc.). I think Paul may have disavowed such an interpretation many years later because he experienced the backlash of such religious commentary before (see John Lennon's comment that the beatles are more popular than christ) and could have grew more conservative or safe (knighthood notwithstanding). As noted, the beatles spent more in producing this song than any other, so I don't think it was done on a lark for a nonchalant lyric, especially when so much went into other lyrics.
15. anonymous

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    Mar 2nd 2010 !⃝

    Wow, so much fail. Maxwell is a real guy. He really killed three people in this exact order. And he did it all with a silver hammer.
    
    Stop trying to be "deep" when there's nothing to be deep about.

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