# Question about "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460 "2011-03-30T02:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/1 "2011-03-30T02:49:27Z")
In the first verse of the song, “Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine” calls Joan up and invites her out to the pictures, as an excuse to show up at her door with a silver hammer and take her out in an entirely different sense. “Back in school again,” Max is being made to write out lines on the blackboard. Somehow I doubt premeds are spending a lot of time copying lines so - is Maxwell Edison a fake name that Max, a murderous little boy, came up with? Or are the Beatles just playing fast and loose with the US educational system? ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/2 "2011-03-30T02:56:28Z")
What makes you think it’s a _US_ system? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/3 "2011-03-30T02:57:31Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > In the first verse of the song, “Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine” calls Joan up and invites her out to the pictures, as an excuse to show up at her door with a silver hammer and take her out in an entirely different sense. “Back in school again,” Max is being made to write out lines on the blackboard. Somehow I doubt premeds are spending a lot of time copying lines so - is Maxwell Edison a fake name that Max, a murderous little boy, came up with? Or are the Beatles just playing fast and loose with the US educational system? It doesn’t say that he was writing the lines on the board. It says the teacher told him to stay after class, that he wrote the lines fifty times, and that he then killed the teacher. My guess is that he wrote the line over and over in his notebook while he was waiting for the class to end, like Jack Nicholson in _The Shining_. It was a description of his compulsions not a description of a classroom punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/4 "2011-03-30T03:00:56Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > What makes you think it’s a _US_ system? 😉 If I’m not mistaken, Britons don’t “major” in things. I may be mistaken though. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/5 "2011-03-30T03:06:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It was a description of his compulsions not a description of a classroom punishment. Wait, what? “Back in school again, Maxwell plays the fool again; teacher gets annoyed. Wishing to avoid an unpleasant scene, she tells Max to stay when the class has gone away. So he waits behind, writing 50 times “I must not be so”.” I’ll admit I don’t have any idea what the OP is asking, but this seems like a pretty straightforward line. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/6 "2011-03-30T03:07:48Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > I’ll admit I don’t have any idea what the OP is asking meep. I’m just asking whether Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine, is a real person (in the universe of the song) or a fake name that a little kid named Maxwell made up to crank call a girl before murdering her. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/7 "2011-03-30T03:27:52Z")
A serial killer studying medicine seems not unlikely, even at age 12 (or whatever he may be). ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/8 "2011-03-30T03:53:00Z")
I never could figure out this song, and it seemed strange that we had to sing it in 7th grade chorus. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/9 "2011-03-30T04:00:25Z")
Clearly, Maxwell Edison is Dexter Morgan’s pseudonym. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/10 "2011-03-30T04:36:58Z")
I doubt, when Paul was writing the song, he gave much thought to it other than that it scans well and sounds cool. People love analysing song lyrics as if they were some kind of coded message from the Gods, which - if correctly decoded - will impart great wisdom. They’re not. It’s not meant to make perfect sense, it’s meant to sound good. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/11 "2011-03-30T04:41:35Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > If I’m not mistaken, Britons don’t “major” in things. Okay, but “medicine” isn’t a major, pataphysics isn’t a science, courtrooms don’t let defendants attack judges, hammers aren’t made of silver – the whole thing has one foot in apparent reality and the other foot in unmitigated nonsense. > [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > …is Maxwell Edison a fake name that Max, a murderous little boy, came up with?..I’m just asking whether Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine, is a real person (in the universe of the song) or a fake name that a little kid named Maxwell made up to crank call a girl before murdering her. I’d certainly say real, in the loopy universe of the song. The only thing that might be associated with a little boy is the writing fifty times. There’s nothing that suggests using a fake name, and everything else (studying medicine, asking a girl out to the movies, being tried in court) points to an adult. Overall, methinks you’re giving this too much thought. On preview, I think **Shakester** has explained it pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/12 "2011-03-30T05:15:41Z")
oops ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/13 "2011-03-30T05:32:58Z")
Allegorical, maybe metaphorical Maxwell is a stone, Cast unforeseen into the pool of Dre-e-e-eams. As soon as things are going to plan, You fall out of the blue Bang! Bang! Random circumstances Can really take their toll. Clang! Clang! Random circumstances Can block you from your goal. (My deepest apologies to Paul, but that’s what _he_ claims it’s about–that is, it’s not about a preteen _or_ pre-med serial killer. Mostly.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/14 "2011-03-30T07:58:59Z")
It’s just an absurd little song of the sort that would have appeared in music hall’s at the time Paul’s father was a lad. It is not internally consistent, it has no hidden meaning, it isn’t realistic, and it makes as much sense as “I Am the Walrus.” It’s just fun. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/15 "2011-03-30T12:56:06Z")
Yeah. Everyone knows Maxwell didn’t have a Silver Hammer. He had little Silver Demons. And he killed by suddenly altering the temperature without violating thermodynamics. Truly Evil. And undetectable. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/16 "2011-03-30T13:06:49Z")
I thought the second verse was a flashback to when Maxwell was in elementary school, when he was assigned a punishment of writing something 50 times on the chalkboard, but in anger, kills the teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/17 "2011-03-30T13:07:14Z")
Next up: Lovely Rita. Was she really a meter maid, or a hooker that was into costumed affairs? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/18 "2011-03-30T13:11:02Z")
Elanor Rigby - did she keep her entire face in a jar or just parts? And was Father McKenzie’s entire congregation deaf? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/19 "2011-03-30T13:27:44Z")
Lady Madonna, public breast feeding. Discuss. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/20 "2011-03-30T13:33:46Z")
Cobain’s obsession with guns in lyrics were a bit of foreshadowing I didn’t need woven into his otherwise-word-soupy lyrics… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460.md?page=2)