Talk:Maxwell's Silver Hammer

message: I had read somewhere that this song was partially inspired by the murder of British playwright Joe Orton by his lover Kenneth Halliwell, who bludgeoned him with a hammer. (Halliwell then committed suicide.) Orton's commercial success was contemporary with the Beatles', and he had been commissioned to write a screenplay for them, which they ultimately did not film because it was too risque. See also the book/film Prick Up Your Ears. --BAW 19:02, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Kenneth Halliwell

message: The lyrics contained on the external link are incorrect.  The first line actually goes, "Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical."  It's a reference to Alfred Jarry's 'Pataphysics. --24.210.117.107 21:44, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Lyrics

message: It says "Lennon, who did not participate in the recording," but then lists his as a contributor in the credits so I'm not sure what's right.  Did he or did he not sing and play on this one? 12.162.122.5 (talk) 18:14, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: John or no John?

message: * Ringo Starr – backing vocal, drums
* Mal Evans – anvil
* George Martin – organ
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[9], Andy Babiuk[10] and Mark Lewisohn[11]
For the studio version of the song, the anvil was played by Starr[9][10][11]; in the Beatles film Let It Be, however, Mal Evans is seen hitting the anvil as The Beatles record the track.
Ok, this indicates that Mal Evans did the anvil and then said specifically (and citedly) that Starr did.  So why is Evans listed as personnel if studio version of the song is Starr? 12.162.122.5 (talk) 16:36, 3 February 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: credits confusion

message: The source cited (pg. 127 from Mulligan's book) calls this a pop song, and this review from Allmusic calls it a pop/rock song. The latter uses "pop/rock"; Wikipedia's page for "pop/rock" redirects to "pop rock", so what does it mean tocall it as it is in this context? I'm just sticking to the source, not making an assumption that the writer implied either/or "pop" song/"rock" song. Is that what you feel? Do you have an objection to the redirect to "pop rock"? Dan56 (talk) 22:15, 14 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: You are judging it to either be "pop rock", or "pop" and "rock", by the article that you are linking to. If you don't feel comfortable having an unpiped link to "pop rock", then perhaps you're linking to the wrong article. Y2Kcrazyjoker4 (talk •  contributions) 13:43, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'm fine with the way it is. I'd like to know why you removed this material here. Dan56 (talk) 23:10, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: What aspect of the song is rock? I don't see it as anything but a bouncy pop production of a basic music hall style. Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt agree with the "music hall" connection in their book Get Back, page 141: "The piano part [of 'Her Majesty'] has the same music hall feel as the earlier rehearsals of 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.'" James E. Perone also agrees in The Album, page 212: "Paul McCartney's music hall-influenced 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' concerns Maxwell Edison, a serial killer..." Jonathan Gould also agrees in Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America, page 578: "...the song is a preternaturally catchy music-hall number in the line of 'When I'm Sixty-Four', 'Your Mother Should Know', and 'Honey Pie.'" Barry Pennock is another voice describing the song as music hall, in the chapter "Does Accent Matter... In Pop Music?", page 181: "'Polythene Pam'... is one of several tracks on the album with an air of Music Hall, including McCartney's 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.'" Edward Macan compares the song in his chapter "The Music's Not All That Matters, After All: British Progressive Rock as Social Criticism", within the book The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music, page 194: "'Harold the Barrel,' from Nursery Cryme (1971), is a brilliant little song in the style of late Beatles faux music hall numbers like 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer,' although [Peter] Gabriel's wit and social criticism cuts deeper." Jonathan Leaf writes that "McCartney deserves credit as well for his versatility: his 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' sounds like an old English music hall song..."; this is page 89 of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties. Binksternet (talk) 02:06, 16 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Recent genre changes 

message: This article clearly states that Lennon was a part of the later recordings, with Yoko in a double bed.  You can hear him sing "doo de doo doo" clearly.dnsla23 08:08, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Yeah, John or no John 

message: In his 2006 memoirs, Geoff Emerick claims that Paul McCartney erased George Harrison's bassline and replaced it his own, something which he claims that he was present to assist with, but that rather than hitting the notes spot on, Paul allegedly articulated it like a tuba by sliding into the notes. This is obviously a fabrication, because a) Geoff wasn't even present for any of the recording sessions for "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and b) he didn't return to working with the group in earnest until July the 21st, 1969 when they recorded "Come Together". This misinformation also appears on www.beatlesebooks.com, a website that is full of factual errors and absurd claims that are obviously fabricated, likely because of being too reliant on Geoff's memoirs.
60.240.8.249 (talk) 21:50, 16 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bass controversy 

message: Geoff Emerick claims that Ringo didn't have the strength to hit the anvil, but he wasn't even present for any of the sessions for the song and it would be impossible for him to make such a claim, because a) he admitted in a 1979 interview that he was unable to remember much of the details of his work with The Beatles and b) his book contained a number of factual errors, unintentional or not.
220.240.76.1 (talk) 00:10, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anvil hits

message: not sure what is meant by "cod-1920s jokes (Maxwell's Silver Hammer)" and suspect something may have been vandalized or at least damaged PurpleChez (talk) 19:24, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't have the Fricke source, but Derek Jewell is quoted as using that phrase in another source. At the very least I hope someone can explain it here or remove it from the article. Sundayclose (talk) 23:09, 21 July 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't see what the problem is. "cod" is British slang for fake or phoney – it's not a term that's too common now but I'm used to reading it here and there. The full sentence by Jewell (reproduced in Fricke's piece) is: "Though I am as tired of their cod-1920s jokes (Maxwell's Silver Hammer) and of Ringo's obligatory nursery arias (Octopus's Garden) as of some of their philosophical dicta, this LP touches peaks far higher than did their last album." JG66 (talk) 03:45, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

text: Cod reggae is a related term, btw. Just came across that used by an NME reviewer to describe "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". JG66 (talk) 03:25, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  contemporary reviews