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This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper" (Read 2,192 times)
Edith Grove
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This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Mar 23rd, 2015 at 4:59pm
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This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"

Esther Inglis-Arkell


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When The Rolling Stones sang "Mother's Little Helper" back in 1966, they weren't talking about drugs. They were talking about a specific drug that was prescribed for everything from severely ill mental patients to recovering alcoholics to comfortable middle class people who sometimes felt anxious. It was called "Miltown."

Before Miltown, the best most mentally ill people could do was get a competent therapist to manage the worst of their symptoms. If the symptoms became too extreme, patients went to hospitals and seldom came out again. But in the 1940s, two scientists noticed a drug, mephenesin, had a "tranquilizing" effect on lab rats. That was the start of something big. The drug was reworked into something called meprobamate, and tested out on patients in a Mississippi mental hospital. A few made a complete recovery and just under a third felt that their symptoms were greatly improved. It's true that only those with the mildest symptoms greatly benefited from the drug, but that meant that many people could, with their prescription, simply walk out of the hospital. Meprobamate let a lot of patients live outside of institutions. It also probably helped the many Americans who were already able to live outside institutions, but still felt anxious and unhappy.

Miltown hit America in 1954. By 1956, doctors had written 36 million prescriptions for it. At the height of its popularity, one out of every three prescriptions called for this drug. Common as it was, it wasn't over-prescribed. There literally wasn't anything else.

There were drawbacks. If used over a long period of time, the drug is physically addictive. Sudden suspension of the drug causes dangerous withdrawal symptoms. In order to quit, users have to slowly reduce their intake. And, while meprobamate does have a tranquilizing effect, the emotional tranquility is accompanied by physical and mental drowsiness as well. It's far from a perfect drug. It was just, for a long time, the only drug.

This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
One of the things that gave meprobamate a bad name was its use by housewives. The idea that these women, seemingly without a problem in the world, needed drugs to get by sparked confusion and scorn - as did the fact that many women became physically addicted to the drug. This is where the phrase, "mother's little helper," comes from. Meprobamate is the drug referenced in the famous song.

Of course, by 1966, when the song was released, other drugs were on the market. As the effectiveness, specificity, and sheer number drugs increased, meprobamate fell out of favor. It is still around, though. And people still are addicted to it.

[Via Shrink, America's Long Love-Affair With Anti-Anxiety Drugs]

Top image: Michelle Tribe.


http://io9.com/this-is-the-drug-in-the-rolling-stones-song-mothers-li-1693032181
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“What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there,” he says. “All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.” - Keef
 
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #1 - Mar 23rd, 2015 at 5:32pm
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I always wondered - thanks for sharing
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #2 - Mar 23rd, 2015 at 8:04pm
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One of my favorite restaurants here in Chapel Hill / Carrboro:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Milltown-Carrboro/115466538504747

I always assumed the song was for tired moms who needed a pick-me-up...conversely, I also have thought it was about downers, where mom's need3ed a stress relief of some kind...something to take the edge off the day-to-day grind that the post-war English 60's alluded to for the working class.
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #3 - Mar 23rd, 2015 at 8:07pm
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One of those perfect songs of all time.
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #4 - Mar 23rd, 2015 at 10:34pm
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I always thought the reference was for Valium.
It was definitely the drug du jour for moms in the 60s.

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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #5 - Mar 24th, 2015 at 2:26am
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I'd also thought it was about valium, since that was very popular in England (my own dear mother was quite partial to it).  The 5mg variety was also 'a little yellow pill'.

But it's all bascially the same stuff Smiley

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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #6 - Mar 24th, 2015 at 11:49am
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Low dose valium, the little yellow pills. Apparently she took 4 of them at a time so they couldn't be really strong or they would be picking mum up off the floor!
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #7 - Mar 24th, 2015 at 12:03pm
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Quaalude was better i suspect
Lemmon 714...
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #8 - Mar 24th, 2015 at 12:15pm
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Paranoid Android wrote on Mar 24th, 2015 at 12:03pm:
Quaalude was better i suspect
Lemmon 714...

They were white.
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #9 - Mar 24th, 2015 at 2:59pm
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Bitch wrote on Mar 24th, 2015 at 11:49am:
Low dose valium, the little yellow pills. Apparently she took 4 of them at a time so they couldn't be really strong or they would be picking mum up off the floor!


The 60's 'Little Yellow Pill' = Valium, 5mg, without a doubt!
This Benzodiazapine was THE tranquilizer of this time period.
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Re: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones' Song "Mother's Little Helper"
Reply #10 - Mar 25th, 2015 at 5:32am
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Bitch wrote on Mar 24th, 2015 at 12:15pm:
Paranoid Android wrote on Mar 24th, 2015 at 12:03pm:
Quaalude was better i suspect
Lemmon 714...

They were white.



...
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« Last Edit: Mar 25th, 2015 at 5:34am by Paranoid Android »  

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