10 Songs That Ruined Otherwise Perfect Albums
9. Abbey Road - "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
They just can’t help themselves. For all their great work and undeniable innovation, The Beatles tank nearly every single one of their albums with a dreadful comedy song. “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” isn’t the worst novelty track - that would be “Ob-La Di, Ob-La-Da”. The White Album, however, is no perfect album, due to its bumper length and experimental nature.
Abbey Road almost is. The second side song suite is the best thing The Beatles ever did; it’s got rockers like “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, pretty songs like “Something”, and weird groovers like “Come Together”. It’s even got one of the band’s best comedy songs, “Octopus’s Garden”.
And then there’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”. This is everything bad about The Beatles’ - more specifically Paul McCartney’s - taste for vaudeville. It’s twee, it’s not funny, it’s musically dull. Lennon later stated his distaste for this kind of track - if only he’d put his foot down.
Luckily the song is placed early on the album, and it’s smooth sailing from there, but its inclusion is one of the great shames in the Beatles catalogue. Without it, they’d have had what they never managed to make - a front to back great record.