Help me make peace with "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

so.. which songs on Abbey Road do you consider simpler compositions than "Love Me Do"?

 

Mr Moonlight is the worst thing they did but I love Maxwell.

 

If you need group approval or insight to enjoy a couple of songs it's pretty sad. Trust your own instincts! You really don't need validation from this forum.

 

It's always a fun discussion. There's really next to nothing to otherwise scratch your head about in the official catalogue. Everything was perfect.
If it wasn't for the Let It Be project/album and a very few songs here and there, we'd have nothing to be ultra critical about.

 

We'd find something

 

So true.

 

It s a funny song with a great hook and arrangement. I like it a lot.
2001 I actually witnessed Paul read the lyrics while touring to promote his poetry book . That was a great moment.
But it s no crime not liking it

 

"Her Majesty"?

 

I never understood the notion that Let it Be is their weakest, I always felt like it's one of their best...

 

Oh don't get me wrong I love Let It Be. I was just referring to the fact that it conjures debate and discussion due to the unresolved nature of the project. Some people consider the songs not all up to par. I don't.

 

hah.. nope. According to Alan Pollock's "Notes On" series: "The chord set is dominated by the standard I, ii, IV, V, but is also spiced up by a couple secondary dominants and a diminished seventh chord." Stuff they were nowhere near with "Love Me Do".

 

I wonder if people would like it more if it weren't well-known what a slog it was in the studio. If I knew that John Lennon loved it, for instance, it would feel different. But it's well-documented that John, George and Ringo really kinda resented the song and its studio process, and I think that it represents the worst of that era in that regard.

 

I Want You and (maybe) Oh Darling.

That’s simpler compositions, not arrangements!

‘Her Majesty’ has pretty busy chords, I’d say it’s a more complex composition than LMD.

 

George played bass on it.
According to Geoff Emerick's book Paul wanted the bass to sound like a tuba, was was achieved, but it was George who played the bass, as you can tell from early takes of the song.

 

I'd rate every track a 10/10 (and that's not unusual for me, there are tons of albums where I'd rate every track a 10/10), so I don't know if it would make sense for me to say it has a "worst song" in light of that.

 

I definitely do not agree with that. I think maybe you're primarily focusing on lyrics? Musically, it's almost like a progressive rock miniature, albeit a bluesy take on prog.

 

Well it's slightly better that octopus's garden.

Sorry that's all I have.

 

I strongly disagree with the conventional composition/arrangement distinction--it's completely arbitrary and doesn't hold water upon any analysis, although folks probably don't want to get into a big discussion about it.

 

That is a cool video . The hatred of this song amazes me. I guess they are channeling the other Beatles hatred of the 1000 takes done in the studio.

 

It's actually quite Crimson-like in many aspects. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a big influence on Fripp.

 

Goofy McCartney romp? That's 1/3 of his catalogue, so what's the deal...

 

I can see that take on it, and yeah the composition/arrangement debate is the kind of thing that will never be resolved so best not to do it. I do tend to give lyrics more weight than some do, and for better or worse, that’s how songwriting credits and publishing has usually skewed. I’m prob biast toward that.

I can totally see the K. Crimson comparison with the ‘She’s so Heavy’ bit btw: I could see that segueing easily into’Red’ or ‘21st Cen Schizoid Man’ in its swirling crushing doomy heaviness.

 

I like the song immensely but only in context of the album.

The new U2 album is like that for me as well. Did not like the singles AT ALL, but the album as a whole blows me away.

Abbey Road for me is just... the toppermost of the poppermost.

 

Try to listen to it in a different context. Not just after the mega two punch opening genius of Come Together/Something. It might help overcome the hate.

I mean, myself, I really do like the song and happen to think it's brilliantly sequenced as the third song on the LP, releasing a lot of the tension and drama built by the previous songs. But at the same time I can see how it can be felt as a huge letdown after those first two songs.

In a way it's indicative of the way Paul would almost always include a bit of silliness and derision in any of his solo releases, to avoid pretension or pompousness (pomposity ? are those actual English words ?).

 

Precisely my thoughts.