"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.
US picture sleeve
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active across seven decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader of the band. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership became the band's primary songwriting and creative force.
The Rolling Stones performing at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 2015. From left to right: Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
The blue plaque commemorating Jagger and Richards meeting on Platform 2 at Dartford railway station in Dartford, Kent, on 17 October 1961
The backroom of the former Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, London, where the Rolling Stones had their first residency, beginning in February 1963
The Rolling Stones arriving at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands, in 1964. From left to right: Wyman, Richards, Jones, Watts and Jagger