Is the most hated Beatles song really that bad?
Most people bringing up their personal ‘worst Beatles song’ is bound to get called into question by any Fab Four fan. Even though The Beatles certainly weren’t musical saints every time they walked into the studio, their body of work is comprised of some of the greatest tunes that rock has to offer, so it’s easier to pick out when the duds come up. And while three of the band members would have gladly done anything else than work on ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’, what’s the legacy behind the tune these days?
For years, the third track on Abbey Road has been the best example of Paul McCartney making lighthearted romps that are more than a little bit nauseating. Although many people have loved tunes like ‘Ob La Di Ob La Da’, there’s still a healthy subsection of music fans who think that chemical castration might be a more pleasurable experience than having to listen to that tune again.
However, the real case made against ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ is the fact that none of the bands liked it to begin with, aside from McCartney. Admittedly, the tune is fairly catchy, but the thought of the group belabouring over it didn’t help matters, especially with the always jovial Ringo Starr saying that it was “The worst track we ever had to record.” But not even the Fabs were right all of the time.
You have to remember that Starr was the same one who thought McCartney’s RAM was terrible from start to finish, yet that record has become known as one of the best in his catalogue. So, can we apply the same type of rose-tinted glasses when looking back on ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’? Well, yes and no.
First of all, the tune is a delightful little romp from a musical perspective. McCartney is in fine form, and combined with the primitive sounds of the Moog synthesiser, the band still showed themselves to be at the cutting edge of musical technology. But that’s before getting into the lyrics and seeing the kind of dark humour on display.
While we’ll never know what goes on in Macca’s head, it’s clear that he was trying to make the perfect black humour song, complete with our protagonist becoming a hammer-wielding murderer. On paper, this song actually does its job incredibly well, but in the context of the rest of the tunes on Abbey Road, there still isn’t much of a reason to be counted among their other classics.
Since this was meant to be their final album together, hearing ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ thrown in after John Lennon’s ‘Come Together’ and George Harrison’s ‘Something’ completely interrupts the flow of the entire album. Despite its bulletproof chorus, the fact that we have to dive into McCartney’s whimsical world of maniacs feels like the band is practically making fun of the idea as they are playing, which isn’t the kind of humour that you want on an album full of adventurous moments like ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’.
So, really, ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ has the potential to be a great song, but when stacked up against the other Fab classics, there was no way in hell it would be considered one of their best. In fact, there’s a good case to be made for a McCartney compilation disk that includes some of his greatest ‘granny shit’ songs where ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ would fit great next to songs like ‘You Gave Me The Answer’ or ‘English Tea’.
But we’re left with a song that’s a bit too jovial for its own good and far too chipper to justify the time the band worked on it. So while McCartney’s ditty is far from being a dumpster fire from start to finish like most people claim it to be, it certainly doesn’t deserve accolades among the group’s finest moments either.
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