Would you deliberately omit Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles from being heard/enjoyed by your child (aged 4-8, say). Despite the child-like musical arrangement, the lyrics are a bit violent.

If your child wanted his own Beatles compilation because he enjoyed listening to yours, would you leave this song off?

For reference:

Joan was quizzical, studied metaphysical
Science in the home
Late nights all alone with a test-tube
Ohh-oh-oh-oh...
Maxwell Edison majoring in medicine
Calls her on the phone
"Can I take you out to the pictures
Joa-oa-oa-oan?"
But as she's getting ready to go
A knock comes on the door...

Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead

Back in school again Maxwell plays the fool again
Teacher gets annoyed
Wishing to avoid an unpleasant sce-e-e-ene
She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing 50 times "I must not be so-o-o-oo..."
But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind

Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head
Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead

B.C. Thirty-One said "we caught a dirty one"
Maxwell stands alone
Painting testimonial pictures ohh-oh-oh-oh
Rose and Valerie screaming from the gallery
Say he must go free (Maxwell must go free)
The judge does not agree and he tells them so-o-o-oo
But as the words are leaving his lips
A noise comes from behind

Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon his head
Bang, Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that he was dead

________________

I would include it.

It was based on an actual serial killer correct?

Anyway I knew this song as a kid maybe 8-10 and I really did not really know how violent it was. It's was sort of cartoonish, in of Roadrunner W.E.Coyote kind of way. Then again that was over 20 years ago.

100% NO. All the kid has to do is go to a friend's house and hear a rapper rapping about bitches and guns...This song is so playful. I know 25 year olds that don't know what the song means.

What's funny is that George Harrison called this song "gay" and also, during the line:

She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away
So he waits behind
Writing 50 times "I must not be so-o-o-oo..."

Paul McCartney snickers because John Lennon moons him (allegedly!!!) during the line "so he waits behind"

its so Manson orientated, yet it was written before all the hullabalo Manson created in August, 1969.

I think that, having heard the song, Manson and the girls acted out to the T the lyrics in the song - even to the point of Manson leaping out of his chair at court and rushing towards the judge, threatening to kill him. Of course, he was stopped.

(I don't think it was a coincidence, but deliberate.)

Children's fairy tails (Red Riding Hood, Mother Goose, etc.) are far, FAR more violent.

I'd leave it off, not because of content, but because it's not a very good (by their standards) song.

I'd leave it on. After all - it's just a song.

WHAAAT??? I think its in the upper 3rd of their songs. Its got great lyrics, telling a great story. The music and style in which it is sang is such a hilarious contradiction to the lyrics. Of the non single/hit songs (at time of release), I would put it in the top 15 to 20.

Great song.

Sheltering kids = NO.
Plus, I really like the song.

I say you have to let the kid(s) watch...when your four year old watches the unrated "Let's Go To Prison" movie when the skin-head nazi threatens to kill Will Arnett with a hammer and Will asks "Just like the Beatles song?", your kid won't understand the joke!!!!!

It's a great song, and since the lyrics would go over the kids head, I'd have no trouble letting anyone hear it.

I didn't get the joke.

http://uploads.ungrounded.net/239000...on_Story.s.swf

I would include it .... besides, it would be easier to explain than 'Why Don't We Do It in the Road'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWCW3...elated&search=

This is GREAT!!

Gets me to wondering how this song would have rocked if the Beatles had ever recorded this song with nothing but guitars...

as it is, every Beatles version is on piano, with the exception of the original, which has guitar solos only (by George?)

I remember once when I was a kid, some people in the next campsite were playing guitar and singing. Our whole family went over and joined them. At our request, the guy started playing "All Together Now." The song has counting, alphabet rhymes, and all kinds of things that little kids like.

He got to the verse that began:
Pink, yellow, green, red,
Can I bring my friend to bed?
and he looked at my parents, looked at us kids, stopped playing abruptly, and said, "I forget the rest."

I remembered it for years because I didn't understand what had happened. If he had played the song through, I wouldn't have understood the verse, but would have forgotten it. There were lots of things I didn't understand when I was seven. Making a big deal of it made a bigger impression on me than just letting it past without comment.

Play the song. If they have any questions, tell them that the song is about a bad guy.

Yeah, it's probably better if you read to your kids one of those fairy tales where small children get baked and eaten by an evil witch.