On a recent episode of the podcast ‘McCartney: A Life In Lyrics,’ Paul McCartney also discussed the Beatles song ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. This song is about a psychotic medical student on a murder spree with a hammer, and it appears that not all of the Beatles enjoyed it.
Host Paul Muldoon claimed that the other band members were not pleased with this track, with Ringo Starr even calling it their worst song. Muldoon suspected that the distaste stemmed from the length of time they spent recording the music to achieve McCartney’s desired sound. The bassist admits:
“I was really into it. It took a little bit longer to record. I recall the boys being p—ed with me. Occasionally, I, in particular, would take too long since I was trying to get what was on my mind.”
Their Time In The Studio Was Still Good
Despite their disputes, McCartney stated that they still enjoyed creating music together. He shared:
“Recording sessions were always good because no matter what our personal troubles were, no matter what was sort of going down, the minute we sat down to make a song, we were good.”
Furthermore, The ‘Pipes Of Peace’ vocalist clarified:
“Our kind of skills came out. So, I believe we all appreciated being in this small skilled group, where Ringo would do that, George Harrison would play that, John Lennon would do that, which was somewhat more weird, and I would do that on bass, piano, or whatever. So that brought me immense joy.”
The Track’s Inspiration Came From The 19th Century
‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ debuted on The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road. According to Paul McCartney, the song was also inspired by Alfred Jarry’s play ‘Ubu Cocu’. He made it clear that the song’s grim theme should not be taken seriously.
“You are aware that it is intended to be humorous. You understand that it is not a true story. This is not ‘Dateline’. You know, this is made up. And I think that’s the sort of joy of it. It’s like a children’s nursery rhyme.”
