NEW 📀 Mother's Little Helper - The Rolling Stones {Stereo} 1966

1966......#8 U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #4 U.S. Cash Box Top 100, #14 Canada, #9 West Germany Original video edited and AI remastered with HQ stereo sound. "Mother's Little Helper" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership, it is a folk rock song with Eastern influences. Its lyrics deal with the popularity of prescribed tranquilisers like Valium among housewives 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 during the band's fifth American tour. The Rolling Stones' twelfth US single, "Mother's Little Helper" spent nine weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8, and it reached No. 4 on both Record World and Cash Box's charts. Though American fans generally found "Mother's Little Helper" lacking when compared to the band's previous singles, contemporary reviewers described 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. Retrospective commentators have described it as an early example of the Rolling Stones' developing sound and suggestive of Jagger's later songwriting. They have often compared the song's sound and lyrics to the contemporary work of Ray Davies, especially the Kinks' 1965 song "A Well Respected Man", and have typically interpreted its lyrics as either admonishing the older generation for their hypocrisy in critiquing recreational drug use, or as a social commentary on housewives who found their lives unfulfilling. Decca Records released Aftermath in the UK on 15 April 1966, sequencing "Mother's Little Helper" as the opening track. The first pop song to address middle-class drug dependency, it was one of several tracks on Aftermath which contributed to listeners interpreting Jagger and Richards as anti-feminists, while also helping to establish the band's reputation for cultural subversion. Due to its explicit drug references, the BBC banned the song from radio play. To help promote Aftermath, the band appeared on the British television programme Top of the Pops the day before its release, miming a performance of "Mother's Little Helper". The band were typically unsatisfied with attempts to perform the song live; drummer Charlie 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". London Records omitted "Mother's Little Helper" from the US edition of Aftermath, replacing it with "Paint It Black", and instead released it as a single. In order to coincide with the band's fifth American tour, the label delayed the release of both the album and single until 20 June and 2 July 1966, respectively. The band's twelfth US single, it featured "Lady Jane" as its B-side. Its picture sleeve used the same image and graphics as the US edition of Aftermath, as photographed by David Bailey. 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. Published in the 9 July 1966 issue of Billboard magazine, a trade advertisement promoting the single promised it was one of significance. At the time of its release, listeners had begun buying albums almost as much as a singles; Wyman later reflected that the album garnered more discussion from American observers than the single, while Stephen Davis writes that fans found the song lacking when compared to the band's previous singles.