| "Mother's Little Helper" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US picture sleeve | ||||
| Single bythe Rolling Stones | ||||
| B-side | "Lady Jane" | |||
| Released |
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| Recorded | December 1965 | |||
| Studio | RCA,Hollywood | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:45 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | Jagger–Richard | |||
| Producer | Andrew Loog Oldham | |||
| The Rolling Stones US singles chronology | ||||
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| Official lyric video | ||||
| "Mother's Little Helper" onYouTube | ||||
"Mother's Little Helper" is a song by the Englishrock bandthe Rolling Stones. A product ofMick Jagger andKeith Richards'songwriting partnership, it is afolk rock song withEastern influences. Its lyrics deal with the popularity of prescribedtranquilisers likeValium amonghousewives and the potential hazards of overdose or addiction. Recorded in December 1965, it was first released in the United Kingdom as the opening track of the band's April 1966 album,Aftermath. In the United States, it was omitted from the album and instead issued as a single in July 1966 duringthe band's fifth American tour. The Rolling Stones' twelfth US single, "Mother's Little Helper" spent nine weeks on the USBillboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8, and it reached No. 4 on bothRecord World andCash Box's charts.
Though American fans[who?] generally found "Mother's Little Helper" lacking when compared to the band's previous singles[which?], contemporary[when?] reviewers[who?] described[where?] the song in favourable terms. The first pop song to address middle-class drug dependency, it helped to establish the band's reputation for cultural subversion[according to whom?]. Retrospective commentators[who?] have described[where?] it as an early example of the Rolling Stones' developing sound and suggestive of Jagger's later songwriting. They[who?] have often[when?] compared the song's sound and lyrics to the contemporary work ofRay Davies, especiallythe Kinks' 1965 song "A Well Respected Man", and have typically interpreted its lyrics as either admonishing the older generation for their hypocrisy in critiquingrecreational drug use, or as a social commentary on housewives who found their lives unfulfilling.[citation needed]
Keith Richards composed the music to "Mother's Little Helper" in September or October 1965, beforethe Rolling Stones left the UK for theirfourth North American tour.[9] The song is afolk rock composition based around an Eastern-flavoured guitarriff.[9][10] Written in theAeolian mode, it is an early instance ofmodal experimentation inrock music,[6] helping provide the song with anIndian feel.[8] One of the few Rolling Stones songs written in aminor key,[8] its underlying tonality is that ofE minor, but ends on an unexpectedG major chord, which Richards later suggested may have been contributed by bassistBill Wyman.[11] JournalistStephen Davis writes the song uses the same "franticrockabilly rhythm" heard on "19th Nervous Breakdown"[12] – both songs subdivide their beats intotriplets[13] – before shifting to acountry and western styledbridge.[12]
In early December 1965, the Rolling Stones began recording songs for their next LP, released the following year asAftermath.[nb 1]Dave Hassinger, the mainrecording engineer for the album, later recalled asking his wife to bring somedepressants to the studio, and she brought several small pills, likelyValiums.[9] Inspired by the event,Mick Jagger immediately composed the song's lyrics,[9] and the song is credited to theJagger–Richard songwriting partnership.[14][nb 2]
Variously described as asatire[17] or aparody,[18] the lyrics focus on a middle-aged woman with children who has become dependent upon pills.[2] So dependent on Valium to alleviate her feelings ofexistential pain, she asks her doctor to write extra prescriptions.[19][nb 3] The mother's state of anxiety is reinforced by the song's recurrent lyric of "What a drag it is getting old",[21] sung by Jagger from her point of view, with the bridge consisting of pleas from the mother for more pills before the finalverse warns her of the threat of anoverdose posed by the drugs.[2]
That's atwelve-string [guitar] with aslide on it. It's played slightlyOriental-ish. The track just needed something to make it twang. Otherwise, the song was quitevaudeville in a way. I wanted to add some nice bite to it.[9]
The Rolling Stones recorded "Mother's Little Helper" in early December 1965 atRCA studios inHollywood, California.[22][nb 1]Andrew Loog Oldham produced the sessions.[14] Like contemporary Indian-influenced rock songs, such asthe Yardbirds' "Heart Full of Soul" (June 1965) andthe Kinks' "See My Friends" (July 1965), "Mother's Little Helper" uses an electric guitar to mimic the sound of asitar;[27]Brian Jones and Richards each play a dual-slide riff on an electrictwelve-string guitar.[28][nb 4] Author Andrew Grant Jackson suggests the riff was Richards' attempt to imitate the sitar heard onthe Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", which had been released on the albumRubber Soul the week before the Rolling Stones began recording.[32] Jones doubles Richards with aRickenbacker 12-string,[9] tuned down anoctave,[33] while Richards played a beaten-up twelve-string which he had repaired:
[I]t was just one of those things where someone walked in and said, 'Look, it's an electric twelve-string.' It was some gashed-up job. No name on it. God knows where it came from. Or where it went. But I put it together with a bottleneck.[9]
Richards further contributed rhythm guitar with hisGibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar.[9][11] During the song's intro, at 0:30, an electric guitar chord is emphasised leading into the riff, accomplished with either avolume pedal or by violining.[11] Wyman's bass guitar contribution includesdistortion made with aMaestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone, and authors Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon describe his playing as reminiscent of theMemphis sound-style.[11][nb 5] Jagger's lead vocal isdouble-tracked while Richards contributes a vocal harmony.[11] Jagger's vocal style for the song irritated his bandmates,[34] later described by Oldham as sounding "near-cockney".[35] Jagger later described the complete song as "a very strange disc", with amusic hall sound made more distinct by the electric twelve-string guitar.[31]
Decca Records releasedAftermath in the UK on 15 April 1966, sequencing "Mother's Little Helper" as the opening track.[36][37] The firstpop song to address middle-class drug dependency,[38] it was one of several tracks onAftermath which contributed to listeners interpreting Jagger and Richards asanti-feminists,[39] while also helping to establish the band's reputation for cultural subversion.[40] Due to its explicit drug references,[41] theBBC banned the song from radio play.[42] To help promoteAftermath, the band appeared on the British television programmeTop of the Pops the day before its release,miming a performance of "Mother's Little Helper".[43] The band were typically unsatisfied with attempts to perform the song live; drummerCharlie Watts later recalled it was too difficult to play: "[I]t's never been any good, never gelled for some reason – it's either me not playing it right or Keith [Richards] not wanting to do it like that".[44]
Among British critics, Richard Green wrote in his review ofAftermath for the British weeklyRecord Mirror that "Mother's Little Helper" "[c]ould almost be a Beatle-written song", with both a "driving force and sudden breaks". He concluded that the song was "a fantastic track", particularly its guitar phrases, vocal harmonies and the "peculiar guitar sound".[45] Keith Altham of theNew Musical Express (NME) opined that the song was one of three on the LP that could have been released as a single, highlighting its bass, lyric and rhythm.[46]
London Records omitted "Mother's Little Helper" from the US edition ofAftermath, replacing it with "Paint It Black", and instead released it as a single.[11] In order to coincide with the band'sfifth American tour,[47] the label delayed the release of the album until 20 June.[48][nb 6] The band's twelfth US single,[52] it featured "Lady Jane" as itsB-side.[11] Its picture sleeve used the same image and graphics as the US edition ofAftermath,[47] as photographed byDavid Bailey.[53] On 23 June 1966, after arriving in New York City to begin their tour, the band promoted the releases by holding a press conference and party aboard the yacht of their manager,Allen Klein.[54] Published in the 9 July 1966 issue ofBillboard magazine,[55] a trade advertisement promoting the single promised it was one of significance.[56] At the time of its release, listeners had begun buying albums almost as much as a singles;[57] Wyman later reflected that the album garnered more discussion from American observers than the single,[58] while Stephen Davis writes that fans found the song lacking when compared to the band's previous singles.[59]
The day of the US single's release, the review panels of bothRecord World andCash Box magazine selected "Mother's Little Helper" as a "Pick of the Week".[60][61]Cash Box's reviewer wrote that, with "Paint It Black" still in the top ten of the magazine's singles chart, they expected "Mother's Little Helper" to do similarly well.[61] The reviewer characterised the song as an "attack on some of contemporary society's 'manufactured' solutions to real problems",[61] andRecord World's reviewer similarly designated it a "cynical rock entry" about "taking the easy way in modern living".[60]Billboard's review panel described the song as similar in sound to "Paint It Black" and predicted it would reach at least the top 20 of theBillboard Hot 100 chart.[62]
The 9 July issue ofBillboard classified "Mother's Little Helper" as a "breakout single" across the US,[63] entering the Hot 100 that day at No. 70.[64] It remained on the chart for nine weeks,[64] peaking at No. 8.[11][nb 7] The song also reached No. 4 on bothCash Box andRecord World's charts,[66][67] and was ranked No. 93 onCash Box's year-end rankings for 1966.[68]
"Mother's Little Helper" was later included on the US releaseFlowers,[69] a 1967compilation album which collected songs that had generally not yet been included on a US LP.[70] Other compilations it has since appeared on includeThrough the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969),[71][72]Hot Rocks 1964–1971 (1971),[73]Singles Collection: The London Years (1989)[74] andForty Licks (2002).[75]
Stephen Davis writes "Mother's Little Helper" and the Rolling Stones' other 1966 singles were "anarchicpop art masterpieces",[76] and musician and authorBill Janovitz writes they were all early examples of the band introducing "radically new sounds" while making "significant statements".[77] Sally O'Rourke ofRebeat magazine writes the song's "vaguely Eastern riff" indicated the developing influence of bothIndian music andpsychedelic rock on the Rolling Stones, anticipating the more developed sound heard on "Paint It Black".[78] AuthorChris Salewicz sets it in the context of a mid-1960s trend of the younger generation disparaging the older,[79] while David Marchese ofVulture writes it was part of Jagger's "great lyrical leap", employing the satire and irony which would characterise much of his later songwriting.[80] CriticRob Sheffield writes inThe New Rolling Stone Album Guide that the US edition ofAftermath was improved by replacing the song with "Paint It Black",[81] while Salewicz instead considers the US edition inferior due to the change.[82]
AuthorPhilip Norman and Eric Klinger ofPopMatters each describe the songwriting of "Mother's Little Helper" as reminiscent of the work ofRay Davies,[40][83] as do Margotin & Guesdon, who compare it tothe Kinks' 1965 song "A Well Respected Man".[14]Richie Unterberger ofAllMusic focuses on the guitar sound, writing its "folk-rock-like strum" is similar to both "A Well Respected Man" and another of the Kinks' mid-1960s singles, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion".[2] Author Gary J. Jucha describes it as a "dressed up folk song", written in the style ofBob Dylan,[84] while authorPaul Trynka instead denigrates it as a "messy Kinks rip-off".[85] Musicologist Allan F. Moore considers the song's "daring subject matter" as contributing to the Rolling Stones' image as the darker opposite of the Beatles,[86] while authorSteve Turner suggests it was a possible inspiration forJohn Lennon in writing the similarly themed Beatles composition, "Doctor Robert", recording for which began only two days after the British release ofAftermath.[87]
CriticJim DeRogatis counts "Mother's Little Helper" among several of the Rolling Stones' mid-1960s singles whose titles or themes drew from the band's experiences with drugs, including "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Paint It Black" and the 1966 compilation albumBig Hits (High Tide and Green Grass).[88] He writes that the song "pokes fun at suburban moms onspeed",[88] while Stephen Davis goes further, describing its lyrics as a "blatant attack on motherhood", directly addressing "tranquilised suburbanhousewives".[89] AuthorsNicholas Schaffner and Sean Egan each see the song as critiquing the hypocrisy of suburban housewives who rant about teenage drug abuse while requiring drugs of their own to get through the day.[90][91]
Just what was this problem that has no name? What were the words women used when they tried to express it? Sometimes a woman would say "I feel empty somehow ... incomplete." Or she would say, "I feel as if I don't exist." Sometimes she blotted out the feeling with atranquilizer.[92]
Where author James Hector finds the lyrics typical for Jagger in being both "miserable" and misogynistic,[93] Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon instead count the song as an exception to the misogynistic lyrics heard throughoutAftermath. They suggest the song expresses compassion to a housewife who has become reliant onpharmaceutical drugs to cope with her daily life, while also more broadly connectingmodern society to feelings of unhappiness.[94] Andrew Grant Jackson sees it as a warning to stressed housewives, writing it is one of the few times in the Stones' discography where they advocate against drug use,[32] something Unterberger similarly describes as more moralistic than was typical for the band's music.[2]
Author David Malvinni connects the song to the writings of feministBetty Friedan, specifically hersecond-wave feminist bookThe Feminine Mystique (1963).[95] Friedan discusses the "trapped housewife" phenomenon, made up of mothers who felt unfulfilled with their daily lives and the societal expectation that they remain at home.[95][96] Feeling unhappy, but unsure why,[96] mothers sometimes turned to prescribed tranquilizers "because it makes you not care so much that it's pointless."[97] Malvinni writes that in the song's lyrics, "it is as though Jagger read Friedan, as he channeled her basic ideas."[98]
"Mother's Little Helper" has been covered by numerous artists.[11] Before its release onAftermath, it was among the pop songs orchestrated for and recorded by theAranbee Pop Symphony Orchestra,[99] included on their February 1966 album,Today's Pop Symphony.[100] Released on Oldham's independent Immediate label, the record was produced by Richards, who selected the songs included on the album.[100] As had occurred with the Beatles'Rubber Soul, numerous tracks onAftermath were covered soon after its release,[101] including an April 1966 version of "Mother's Little Helper" by Welsh singer Gene Latter.[102]NME's reviewer wrote he loved Latter's "fruity, rather coarse voice" and thefuzz guitar offsetting it.[103] American singer-songwriterLiz Phair recorded the song for the television seriesDesperate Housewives,[11] later included on the show's associated soundtrack album,Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives (2005).[104] In his review of the album forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes the cover as "flat-footed" and one of the album's weak points.[104]
According to Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[10][nb 4]
The Rolling Stones
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