Just Say No

On the way into work this morning I was listening to the radio when Mothers Little Helper by the Rolling Stones came on and I immediately thought of drugs and washing dishes.

I am not a big fan of the Stones, I only listen to them when I happen to be listening to the radio in my car (which isn’t often since I usually have my ipod) and since I only like a couple of their songs I usually change the station when they come on. However, this is one of the songs that I do like; I like the sitar and I like the lyrics. But I cannot separate the thought in my mind of drugs and dishes from this song.

I have a very clear memory of washing dishes in our red kitchen in 1980, listening to my mix tapes on the very cool (at the time) red cassette player/radio. I had made several mix tapes of my favorite songs from my parents music. I am thankful that growing up my parents listened to good music. There was the occasional Bee Gees and Anne Murray but there was also lot of Queen, Bowie, AC/DC, ABBA, Stones, Beatles, Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. Stones music was few on my mixes, but Mothers Little Helper was on there, so was Hotel California by the Eagles and both of them make me think the same thing.

Drugs are bad, they are for scary people who are addicted, have no self-control and are probably shifty and dirty.

















At the tender age of 10 I was given the subtle (or not so subtle) meaning behind both songs, line by line. My dad who I believe meant the interpretations to be a cautionary tale of drug use explained them to me while doing the dishes.

This was the only drug talk he gave me, ever.

So this is how it went; my dad is washing dishes, I'm drying them, The Rolling Stones Mothers Little Helper plays.

Dad: You know what that means?

Me: What?

Dad: (reciting these lyrics as the song plays) There’s a little yellow pill…She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper…And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day…Doctor, please, some more of these…Outside the door, she took four more…You can tranquilize your mind…help to minimize your plight…The pursuit of happiness just seems a bore And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose

Me: No...I don’t know.

Dad: They’re talking about drugs.

Me: Oh.

Dad: Valium, people take them to calm down but they can get addicted.

Me: Oh, okay.

Same setting, different night, The Eagles Hotel California plays with me singing along (probably with the wrong words) because I liked this one a lot.

Dad: Do you know what they are talking about?

Me: A hotel in the desert?

Dad: Well…

Dad: (reciting these lyrics as the song plays) The stab it with their steely knives, But they just can't kill the beast.

Dad: They are talking about needles...for drugs.

Me: Oh.

Dad: (reciting these lyrics as the song plays) You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave!

Dad: They mean you can’t get away from the addiction and that it is really hard to stop and it will ruin your life.

I really don’t know if these talks kept me away from Valium and/or Heroin but I sure wont forget that I figured out at a very early that all those musicians were on drugs.

In case you are wondering, my one and only sex talk from my parents was very similar. It was during the commercial break for 20/20, the story was about a big Herpes epidemic in the early 80's (maybe 1983 or so). It was an even shorter coversation, they simply said, "Do you know how people are getting that?" and I replied "Ya" and they said "Good".

In the context at the time it was obvious that "getting that" would be bad and that even if I didn't totally get it, I should just say that I understood. It was the easy way out.