This influence is reflected in the story and tone of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", and also explains how McCartney came across Jarry's word "pataphysical", which occurs in the lyrics.

John Lennon, who had been absent from recording sessions for the previous eight days after being injured in a car crash in Scotland, arrived to work on the song,[11][12] accompanied by his wife, Yoko Ono.

After a while we did a good job on it, but when Paul got an idea or an arrangement in his head …"[17] Starr told Rolling Stone in 2008: "The worst session ever was 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.'

'"[18][better source needed] In his 1969 review of Abbey Road for Rolling Stone, John Mendelsohn wrote: "Paul McCartney and Ray Davies are the only two writers in rock and roll who could have written 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer', a jaunty vaudevillian/music-hallish celebration wherein Paul, in a rare naughty mood, celebrates the joys of being able to bash in the heads of anyone threatening to bring you down.

"[19] Writing in Oz magazine, Barry Miles described the song as "a complex little piece" and said that, aside from McCartney's casual interest in Jarry's work, "The only British pop group holding any pataphysical honours are The Soft Machine".

[20] Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times found the album "refreshingly terse and unpretentious", but lamented the inclusion of "cod-1920s jokes (Maxwell's Silver Hammer)".

He continued: This ghastly miscalculation – of which there are countless equivalents on [McCartney's] garrulous sequence of solo albums – represents by far his worst lapse of taste under the auspices of The Beatles … Thus Abbey Road embraces both extremes of McCartney: the clear-minded, sensitive caretaker of The Beatles in 'You Never Give Me Your Money' and the Long Medley – and the immature egotist who frittered away the group's patience and solidarity on sniggering nonsense like this.

[22] Author Jonathan Gould cites "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" as an example of the selfishness inherent in the Beatles' creative partnership, whereby a composition by McCartney or Lennon would be given preference over a more substantial song by Harrison.

[23] He also rues McCartney's penchant for a light entertainment style that the Beatles had sought to render obsolete, and concludes: The sorriest aspect of 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' is thus the way it demonstrates how Paul's workmanlike tendency to build on his past successes had caused him to translate the genuinely charming novelty and subversive parody of 'When I'm Sixty-Four' into a personal subgenre of glibly clever songs that had devolved in the two years since Sgt.

He said that while McCartney had previously created "some borderline-schmaltzy, music hall-inspired songs", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was "where even the secret admirer of 'Rocky Raccoon' must draw the line".