Maxwell's Silver Hammer

[der_kluge]

How funny. As it turns out, in a community band I play in, we're playing a collage of Beatle's songs, and this one is one of them. I'd never heard of it. I wonder if our band director knows about this song...

 

[Kemrain]

One of my favorite but lesser known Beatles tunes is Sexy Sadie.

Sexy Sadie! She's the greatest of them all.

- Kemrain the Fool.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Weird.

 

[GlassJaw]

Weird.

What is?

Sexy Sadie! She's the greatest of them all.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

What is?

The Hot Diggity Demon cartoon.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Ah, Sadie ... Seem I wasn't the only one

Heh, finding a Beatles song you didn't know before, that's a cool discovery

 

[jgbrowning]

One of my fav beatles songs (my fav off the White Album) is Savoy Truffle. Great song.

joe b.

 

[Crothian]

So, anyone know the meaning behind the song?

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

I have a hard time picking favorite Beatles songs - after all, they are BEATLES' SONGS!

I'm a fanatic. I love the Beatles. They're better than RPGs.

Oh, and Crothian, this song, IIRC, was drawn from a magical item in Ringo's pre-1st ed D&D game.

 

[Maerdwyn]

So, anyone know the meaning behind the song?

The vaudevillian-style song is about medical student Maxwell Edison, who uses his silver hammer to murder his girlfriend, then his teacher, and finally a judge. According to McCartney, it epitomizes the downfalls of life. He said in 1994:

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is 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 with a silver hammer. I don't know why it was silver, it just sounded better than Maxwell's hammer. It was needed for scanning. We still use that expression now when something unexpected happens.

Wikipedia entry