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Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Take 12)The Beatles

Released: September 27, 2019

Songwriter: Paul McCartney Lennon-McCartney

Producer: George Martin

Paul: Tell you what
Do, do more sort of a (scatters a drum solo) you know
*Ringo mimics Paul*
Paul: Yes, just something a bit more because it sounds a bit dead when you hear it, just as an intro
*Paul continues to scatter*
Paul: Yeah. Uh, do that one (Scatters and plays the piano to bass chords)
*George attempts to mimic Paul*

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical
Science in the home
Late nights all alone with a test tube
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine
Calls her on the phone
"Can I take you out to the pictures
Joa, oa, oa, oan?"

But as she's getting ready to go
A knock comes on the door

[Chorus]
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head, do do do do do
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead

[Verse 2]
Back in school again Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant
Sce, e, e, ene
She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing fifty times "I must not be
So, o, o, o"

But as she turns her back on the boy
He rose up from behind

[Chorus]
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead

[singing]

[Verse 3]
*gibberish*
Painting testimonial pictures
Oh, oh, oh, oh

Valerie
Gallery
Free
Agree and he tells him
So, o, o, o

But as his words are leaving his lips
A noise comes from the back

[Chorus]
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head
Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead

[singing]

[Outro]

Paul: One more
It was good, you know, it had nice bits in it
It would be nice to have the nice bits and the other bits
George: And the bad bits
Paul: And the bad bits, yeah (Laughs)
Ringo: George Harrison is resting his arm
Paul: Let it be known unto the people [laughing]

George: Kick out the jams, take 8
Ringo: Brothers and sisters!

The Beatles

The Beatles are arguably the most famous, critically-acclaimed, and successful rock band of all time—certainly the preeminent group of the 20th century. They started out as four teenagers playing grimy basement clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, but they progressed to become world-beating rock stars who are still influential to this day.

John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen in March 1957. A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined shortly thereafter, eventually inviting his friend George Harrison to audition for the band. After finally impressing John with his guitar skills, George was asked to join—but this juncture would be short-lived as John’s departure to college signaled the other quarrymen to go their separate ways.

By 1960, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had re-branded from ‘Johnny & the Moondogs’ to ‘The Silver Beetles’ at the behest of their new bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. The name would eventually evolve into ‘The Silver Beatles’ by July of that year, before settling on ‘The Beatles’ come August—just in time for their trip to Hamburg with new drummer, Pete Best. Though club residencies in Germany would prove fundamental to the group’s progress as a whole, the tour turned out to be a blessing and a curse, following the deportation of a then-seventeen-year-old George Harrison, and the eventual tragic death of Stuart Sutcliffe.

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