# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/41 "2011-04-01T02:49:27Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Did Paul ever really go to the USSR, much less go back? Did BOAC fly between Miami and the USSR? ---
**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:** [April 1, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/42 "2011-04-01T04:02:04Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Did Paul ever really go to the USSR, much less go back? I’ll risk being wooshed to say that Back to the USSR is a parody of California Girls by the Beach Boys. Also, Paul wrote Helter Skelter after someone said The Who were the loudest band in the world (and he couldn’t let that one go). He was a competitive sumbitch. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/43 "2011-04-01T04:04:43Z")
(since we seem to be somewhat off topic now) It will always amuse me that Helter Skelter is the champion of loud, angry rock songs - and now lent even more hardcoreness because of the Manson connection - but is actually just about trying to dance with a girl with two left feet. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/44 "2011-04-03T14:55:27Z")
So whats up with this Norweigan Wood ? ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/45 "2011-04-03T16:06:52Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > So whats up with this Norweigan Wood ? I’ll show you in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/46 "2011-04-03T16:18:36Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > (since we seem to be somewhat off topic now) It will always amuse me that Helter Skelter is the champion of loud, angry rock songs - and now lent even more hardcoreness because of the Manson connection - but is actually just about trying to dance with a girl with two left feet. Helter Skelter is an amusement park slide. He may or may not be using it as a metaphor, but I have always heard it described that way. Never heard the reference to bad dancing. Do you have a cite? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/47 "2011-04-03T17:04:10Z")
> [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](#): > > 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. Paul McCartney is _Quentin Tarantino_??!? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/48 "2011-04-03T18:08:06Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > So whats up with this Norweigan Wood ? Oblique for “Knowing she would.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/49 "2011-04-03T18:45:20Z")
I checked, and, as of 24 hours ago, the denizens of this message board have put more thought into the meanings of Beatles songs than either Lennon or McCartney ever did. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/50 "2011-04-03T18:50:24Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > 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? Amigo, the Beatles were so screwed up on drugs during that time that I’d almost be willing to bet they didn’t even know they wrote it. No deep insights in any of their music, just druggie drivel. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/51 "2011-04-03T19:36:36Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > No deep insights in any of their music, just druggie drivel. But that’s the best kind of drivel. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/52 "2011-04-04T17:53:24Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Amigo, the Beatles were so screwed up on drugs during that time that I’d almost be willing to bet they didn’t even know they wrote it. No deep insights in any of their music, just druggie drivel. I think that it was only after Revolver that they started experimenting with drugs. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/53 "2011-04-04T19:55:31Z")
Yes, Lust4Life, but they did tea before that. And you know what that leads to … ---
**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:** [April 4, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/54 "2011-04-04T20:07:35Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > (since we seem to be somewhat off topic now) It will always amuse me that Helter Skelter is the champion of loud, angry rock songs - and now lent even more hardcoreness because of the Manson connection - but is actually just about trying to dance with a girl with two left feet. You’re confusing Richard Thompson with the Beatles. And he rode The Wall of Death, not a Helter Skelter, and refused to dance with a girl with two left feet. (Fats Waller says your feets too big. I say your feets too left.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/55 "2011-04-04T20:24:59Z")
> [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](#): > > I’ll risk being wooshed to say that Back to the USSR is a parody of California Girls by the Beach Boys. [Back In The USA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4eonyfRet8&feature=related)? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/56 "2011-04-05T00:43:06Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > [Back In The USA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4eonyfRet8&feature=related)? I actually know about that one. Chuck wrote that after his Australian tour when he noticed how badly the aborigines were treated. He was glad to get back home after that. He was here before the referendum that granted aborigines Australian citizenship, and right in the middle of the whole stolen generation thing. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/57 "2011-04-05T00:48:35Z")
Did they make sure that Paul is dead by tapping his forehead gently three times with a silver hammer? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/58 "2011-04-05T02:56:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > You’re confusing Richard Thompson with the Beatles. And he rode The Wall of Death, not a Helter Skelter, and refused to dance with a girl with two left feet. > (Fats Waller says your feets too big. I say your feets too left.) Meanwhile Joni Mitchell danced with a hole in her stocking. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/59 "2011-04-07T18:34:41Z")
> [@pesch](#): > > Yes, Lust4Life, but they did tea before that. And you know what that leads to … Personally I blame the fact that I routinely drank water as a teenager (purely for fun you realise), that I later became a crack addicted; serial killer who has an unnatural obsession with sheep who have the nickname of “Monty”. I think if it hadn’t been for the old h20, I wouldn’t now be fleeing an Interpol,"Kill on sight"warrant. But I digress! ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460/60 "2011-04-08T22:02:01Z")
Paul and John are Maxwell. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is a “psychic” or “rhetorical” device whereby they avenge wrongs. No one is harmed in this song, except in a mundane way. In fact the song is one meta tap of their silver hammer… a jab at A love, a teacher, “The Man”. Not only are the Beatles one of the most popular bands of all time, they are perhaps some of the most powerful artists of all time, they had the power to make “malleable” much of their concurrent culture. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-maxwells-silver-hammer/576460.md?page=4)