Mothers Little Helper (The Rolling Stones)

22 JULY 1966



The Rolling Stones released the single 'Mothers Little Helper' in the US in July 1966, where it reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was apparently not released as a single in Britain.

Thematically (and musically), this was very much in the same vein as 'Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow' and '19th Nervous Breakdown'. Once again Jagger and Richards had produced a heavy, cynical song putting down women, this time struggling housewives with a dependency on drugs like Valium. Of course, Keith Richards would be dependent on far harder stuff. The group was clearly intent on maintaining their hard-edged image, a direction that would change for a while in the psychedelic atmosphere of 1967.

Of course the Stones weren't all menace and sneer, and Jagger and Richards were churning out a number of rather soppy slow songs, such as the B-side 'Lady Jane', which went to #24 in the US in its own right, and was a British hit in July 1966 for David Garrick.

B-side: 'Lady Jane'
Recorded: 3–8 December 1965
Released: 2 July 1966 (US)
Highest chart position: #8 (US)
Length: 2:40
Label: London
Writers: Jagger/Richards
Producer: Andrew Loog Oldham

Mothers Little Helper (The Rolling Stones)