Listening to the Rolling Stones’ “Mother’s Little Helper” the other day, I was struck by how much the lyrics resembled a misogynistic MRA rant. Ostensibly a song pointing out the hypocrisy of suburban squares attacking the drug culture whilst themselves popping prescription pills, the song extends its “critique” to cover such subjects as the evil of women making cakes from mixes instead of from scratch. (See below for videos of all the songs mentioned in this post.)
So you go from this bit of, ahem, social criticism:
“Things are different today,”
I hear ev’ry mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she’s not really ill
There’s a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day.
To this:
“Things are different today,”
I hear ev’ry mother say
Cooking fresh food for a husband’s just a drag
So she buys an instant cake and she buys a frozen steak
And goes running for the shelter etc etc
Yep, that’s right. Mick’s as bothered by the frozen steak as he is by the dangers of tranquilizer abuse. By the end of the song, the hypothetical freezer-and-cake-mix-using mother has died of an overdose. Told you so!
Misogynistic rock songs aren’t exactly a rarity – hell, “Mother’s Little Helper” isn’t even the worst offender in the Rolling Stones’ disography.
But unlike more straightforward outbursts of misogynistic nastiness like, say, “Under My Thumb,” “Mother’s Little Helper” pretends to be something nobler: a social critique.
The blogger behind the wonderfully arch I Hate the New York Times blog pointed out to me in a tweet that a surprising number of old rock lyrics play this little trick. Taking the form of a “critique of today’s inauthentic & hedonistic society” they are in fact “directed at [a] specific shallow hussy.”
Along with Mother’s Little Helper, IHateNYT suggested I take another look at the lyrics to Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Kicks.” And, yep, it’s basically the same thing: a critique of drug use in the form of a patronizing lecture to a young woman in search of “kicks,” starting out with this little bit of I-told-you-so, delivered with a sneer:
Girl, you thought you found the answer on that magic carpet ride last night
But when you wake up in the mornin’ the world still gets you uptight
It turns out that the song, written by the songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, was inspired by the drug use of a male friend of theirs – though somehow in the song this specific man became a hypothetical “girl.”
And then of course there is the Guess Who’s American Woman, a sort-of critique of America’s “war machines” and “ghetto scenes” in the form of a long, sneering diatribe against a hypothetical woman:
Now woman, I said stay away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don’t come knockin’ around my door
Don’t wanna see your shadow no more
And on and on and on for a very long five minutes and nine seconds.
One of the reasons these songs sound so much like MRA rants is that MRAs like to play the same little game, dressing up their misogynistic sentiments in the form of “social critique.” Thus Paul Elam’s faux-environmentalist attack on female consumers, and all that talk about how single mothers and/or “picky women” are going to bring about the end of civilization. Heck, some manosphere fat-gal-bashers even pretend they fat-bash out of concern for the well-being of the women they’re ridiculing.
It might be entertaining to transform some of these old woman-hating songs into critiques of woman-haters. “Stupid Girl” by the Rolling Stones might be a good place to start. I mean, seriously?
Like a lady in waiting to a virgin queen
Look at that stupid girl
She bitches ’bout things that she’s never seen
Look at that stupid girl
Those are real Rolling Stone lyrics, not a comment from NWOslave. Have at it.
Here are videos of all the songs I mention above:
Hey Claire, you mean “Repo Men” with Jude Law, right? Not “Repo Man” from the 80s with Emilio Estevez? I rather like the 80s film; the soundtrack had less than perfect people providing the soundtrack, but shit, vintage Circle Jerks and Iggy Pop? Tee-hee.
Put up or shut up, homeboy.
Please tell me where you see misandry Steele.
As Richard Dawkins would say, Jesus Tapdancing Christ. I’m not going to do your research for you – Kell, Dammit. Especially when it’s such a wide-scale phenomenon. Do your own damn Googling. Here, I’ll get you started:
“You Belong With Me”
1980s Repo Man was one of my favorite movies.
Nah, Shiraz, the Ray Lamontagne song I’m talking about has nothing to do with the movie with Emilio Estevez. That is my favorite movie! I just got a new copy today, as I wanted to watch it this weekend and the case was empty.
Here is the Ray Lamontagne song:
And here’s the real thing:
*runs off to the kitchen singing Hombre Secreto*
Top Five Songs – CLEAR MISANDRY
1. Rihanna – Diamonds
2. Kei$ha – Die Young
3. Maroon 5 – One More Night
4. Bruno Mars – Locked Out of Heaven
5. Gangnam Style – Psy
Steele, I googled like 12 things for my comments while you wrote that. GYPSY DILDO PUNK.
First of all, Taylor Swift is a purveyor of internalized misogyny. She’s saying the girlfriend in that song isn’t good enough for the boy and that she’d be a much better meeker partner for the boy. She is fighting with another woman over a man and presenting herself and that man in a positive light. The only person being vilified is the woman. How the fuck is that man hating?
Taylor Swift – You Belong with Me
Claire!!! *Fist bump* I love the film too! Damn, *fist bump again*
Steele, you’re still not making a lick of sense. Try harder…or something.
In high school, I was voted Most Likely to Become a Repo Wife. (By my friends, who hijacked the stupid voting system as a joke.)
Steele, you should keep resting. Once again, you have nothing.
LOL! Guy who song is about, you’re so awesome! Taylor Swift wishes you would notice her instead of that slut you’re dating! Misandry!
Is steele having yet a ‘what abpout the menz’ moment? I
Shit, you guys are awesome — cloudiah, claire, hellkell, cassandra.
Unfortunately, I have an early day tomorrow. Goodnight, friends.
Day, night, it don’t mean shit.
I mean, goodnight, Shiraz!
Obviously misandric since it is not bashing women to the fullest extent possible.
What the hell, Steele. “You Belong With Me” is a terrible, stupid song, and I’ll even give you the fact that Taylor Swift’s entire oeuvre is arguably offensive to people with functioning ears, but misandric? Seriously? Please, please tell us how exactly singing of your undying love for a guy and your loathing for his supposedly terrible girlfriend who just doesn’t “get” him is hateful to men?
Says, I can’t even parse that comment. Cupcake, perhaps you should return to Sophomore English, or its equivalent.
@clairedammit
I’ll admit to having been a huge (and I mean huge) G N’ R fan at 14-15ish, and having seen the most recent incarnation live. “Used to Love Her” is, depending who you ask, a sick joke about a dog who had to be put down, a cheap pun (to kill her/tequila), or both. Which doesn’t really necessarily make it better, but…
Psst, Steele, it was sarcasm. Does that help?
Steele, thats not a response and you know it. Its a desperate ploy to distract from the shakiness of your position. Please don’t do that. Also since Im on the subject of things you do that only convince me more that you’re wrong name dropping Dawkins for a phrase he most likely would not make is a detriment to your already unconvincing appeal.
Huh, lowquacks, I never heard that. I always thought their lyrics were pretty straightforward. I could see it being about a dog, though.
Story time! Mr. Dammit and I didn’t have an expensive wedding, so a live band was out of the question. The place where we got married had a nice sound system, though, so I made mix tapes for the proprietors to play at our reception. One of the songs on them was Patience by GnR. (Also When I’m 64 by The Beatles. I forget the rest.)
That’s OK, Steele, we know how bad your reading comprehension is. We won’t hold it against you since it’s your misandric teacher’s fault.