Recording for some of the songs featured on Abbey Road took “a hell of a lot of time” according to The Beatles‘ George Harrison.
The so-called “quiet one” wrote of each track in a newspaper column ahead of Abbey Road’s release, and says one song written by Paul McCartney took the group longer than any other. Harrison, alongside Ringo Starr, assessed each song from the album and Harrison confirmed Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, the “fun but sick” song about a hammer-wielding murderer, was the toughest part of recording the album. A snippet of the paper was shared to the r/Beatles subreddit, where the music column from Harrison was shown.
It seems Harrison predicted the split opinion of the song too, with fans still on the fence about its inclusion on Abbey Road. In the Rolling Stone Magazine column, he writes: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is just something of Paul’s. We spent a hell of a lot of time recording this one.
“It’s one of those instant, whistle-along tunes which some people will hate and others will love. It’s like Honey Pie, a fun sort of thing, but probably sick as well because the guy keeps killing everybody. We used my Moog Synthesizer on this track, and I think it came out effectively.”
Fans wondered whether Harrison meant to sound dismissive of McCartney’s songs, particularly Oh! Darling. He writes of the song: “Oh! Darling is another of Paul’s songs which is a typical 1950-1960 sort of period in its chord structure.
“It’s a typical 1955 song which thousands of groups used to make – The Moonglows, the Paragons, The Shells, and so on. We do a few ooh-oohs in the background, very quietly, but mainly, it’s Paul shouting.”
George gives his opinion on all Abbey Road songs
byu/Stan0805 inbeatles
One fan wondered: “George seems a bit dismissive of Oh! Darling. He doesn’t seem to think much of it, which I think is interesting because John was a bit jealous of it and thought he should have been the one to sing it.”
Another added: “This Oh! Darling. thing is a more recent thing, back in the day we didn’t care much about this song. It was more about Something or Because. The 1950s were too recent to bring nostalgia and it sounded a bit outdated. But I agree the song is fantastic and it is good people started to recognize it.”
Some say Harrison was trying to be “diplomatic” about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, with one writing: “Poor George is trying his hardest to be diplomatic about Maxwell’s Silver Hammer there.”
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George’s comments are highly exaggerated, possibly because of of the growing actual between NcCartney and the others as well as his genuine dislike of the song. It was documented that in it was recorded over a two day period and took 35 takes. Much of the second day was McCartney’s over divs. I’m contrast, All Things Must Pass had more than 75 takes during Get Back sessions, 36 the first day, only to have George, himself, pull out. It wasn’t rejected by either John or Paul, contact to popular belief. George did his bandmates a disservice by not setting the record straight and dispelling the false narrative the others rejected it.