# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/21 "2011-03-30T13:37:47Z")
From “A Hard Day’s Write” by Steve Turner: > [@](#): > > Paul said at the time that the song “epitomizes the downfalls of life. Just when everything is going smoothly, ‘bang bang’ down comes Maxwell’s silver hammer and ruins everything.” On deck: Mean Mr. Mustard. Eccentric miser or obnoxious SDMB poster? Or both? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/22 "2011-03-30T14:03:10Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > … hammers aren’t made of silver… Sometimes [they are](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1166/is-there-a-door-in-st-peters-basilica-thats-opened-once-every-100-years). > [@](#): > > A Holy Year starts on Christmas Eve, at one time considered the last day of the year. There’s an elaborate ritual in which the pope strikes the Holy Door three times with a silver hammer. The door promptly collapses, no doubt inspiring at least one or two spectators to hope that the rest of St. Peter’s was built by a different contractor. In fact, however, workers with ropes and pulleys nudge things along. ---
**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, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/23 "2011-03-30T14:21:47Z")
… A tradition started by the first (and last) Scandinavian pope, Pope Thor I. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/24 "2011-03-30T14:25:17Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Sometimes [they are](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1166/is-there-a-door-in-st-peters-basilica-thats-opened-once-every-100-years). Even better than that… That very same mallet is used when the Pope is dead. From [“Catholic Pages dot com”](http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/papal-funeral.asp) (emphasis mine): > [@](#): > > After the pope drew his last breath, a doctor was called forth to pronounce the death; in some pontificates, no more than a mirror was used to detect breath. To be certain of death, the Church had its own formula: The Cardinal-Camerlengo of the Church would come forward. _ **All others would drop back behind him while he removed from a small red leather bag a small silver mallet engraved with the arms of the deceased. Three times the Camerlengo would gently tap the forehead of the deceased pope as if to say, “Get up!” With each tap, he would call out, in the pope’s native tongue, the name given to him at baptism, the name his mother whispered to him as a child.** _ It was thought that no man could remain asleep at the sound of his baptismal or childhood name. Assured of death, the Camerlengo would announce, “The Pope is dead.” From that moment, the reverent silence of the Vatican vanished as a flurry of activity began in preparation for the burial and coming conclave. So, maybe Maxwell was a Papal Camerlengo who got a teensy bit caught into the flow of funereal rites…! ^.^ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/25 "2011-03-30T14:31:44Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Even better than that… That very same mallet is used when the Pope is dead. From [“Catholic Pages dot com”](http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/papal-funeral.asp) (emphasis mine): Papal sources [deny this popular myth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camerlengo_of_the_Holy_Roman_Church#cite_note-5): > [@](#): > > The reality of this popular and dramatic tale is positively denied by Hartwell de la Garde Grissell, Chamberlain of Honor di numero to Pope Pius IX, Pope Leo XIII, and Pope Pius X, who was present at the ceremony of recognition in 1903: "It may also be here mentioned that no such ceremony as striking the dead Pope’s forehead with a silver hammer takes place, and that the exact method of calling aloud his name is not tied down to any determinate form, but is left to the discretion of the Cardinal Camerlengo… In an original [manuscript] diary in my possession written by Domenico Cappelli of Ascoli, who was Master of Ceremonies to five Popes—Alexander VII., Clement IX., Clement X., Innocent XI., and Alexander VIII.—he states that the custom of calling aloud three times the words ‘Pater Sancte’ was discontinued on the death of Clement X. in 1676 (Hartwell de la Garde Grissell, _Sede Vacante, being a Diary written during the Conclave of 1903, with additional Notes on the Accession and Coronation of Pius X_ (Oxford and London: James Parker and Co. 1903), page 2. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/26 "2011-03-30T14:43:55Z")
No matter - it is a popular myth that found its way into popular song. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/27 "2011-03-30T15:01:53Z")
Is living really easier with eyes closed? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/28 "2011-03-30T15:21:51Z")
Misunderstanding all you see is one thing, but Paul seems to want us to misunderstand all we hear of what he wrote. ---
**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, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/29 "2011-03-30T16:12:05Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > .. A tradition started by the first (and last) Scandinavian pope, Pope Thor I. He was the one between Pope America and Iron Pope, right? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/30 "2011-03-30T16:45:11Z")
The true story: [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/239712](http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/239712) Probably NSFW. I saw a neat fake news article once “interviewing” Maxwell Edison because he’d recently been released. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/31 "2011-03-30T17:13:48Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Is living really easier with eyes closed? I think I know I mean a ’yes’ but it’s all wrong, That is I think I disagree ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/32 "2011-03-30T20:52:25Z")
Forget the silver hammer – I’m more curious about the silver spoon brandished by the girl who came in through the bathroom window. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/33 "2011-03-31T00:35:45Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > 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. Whoa dude! Next you’ll be telling me that _Helter Skelter_ isn’t about taking the _man_ down, the girl doesn’t really have kaleidoscope eyes, and John wasn’t actually a walrus! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/34 "2011-03-31T01:53:17Z")
Did Paul ever really go to the USSR, much less go back? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/35 "2011-03-31T01:59:35Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > 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. Everyone’s amusing responses aside, I concur with this. I always took it as illustrating that Maxwell’s homicidal tendencies originated when he was a wee lad. The “again” is just in there to make it flow. Ya know? ---
**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 31, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/36 "2011-03-31T05:51:14Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Whoa dude! Next you’ll be telling me that _Helter Skelter_ isn’t about taking the _man_ down, the girl doesn’t really have kaleidoscope eyes, and John wasn’t actually a walrus! :eek: The Walrus was Paul. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/37 "2011-03-31T07:04:07Z")
Yes, but not _that_ Paul: the song was a knockoff of the Lewis Carroll poem–the Walrus was Paul, and _Jesus_ was the Carpenter! ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/38 "2011-03-31T12:48:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > A serial killer studying medicine seems not unlikely, even at age 12 (or whatever he may be). Errm. It’s pretty obvious that the verses are not meant to be in chronological order. The school verse does not take place simultaneously with him majoring in medicine. It’s grade school, as opposed to medical school. The narrative is fairly loose anyway. It’s possible it’s just a sequence of non-sequiturs that isn’t resolvable into any logical sequence. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/39 "2011-03-31T13:23:23Z")
Maybe someone should do a remake, using the name Hannibal Lecter ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/40 "2011-03-31T14:27:07Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > … pataphysics isn’t a science … \*\*'\*\*Pataphysics might be considered one, though. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460.md?page=3)