In the 1960's, Arno travelled to Asia and made the ritual visit to Kathmandu. We also caught a glimpse of him singing in St. Tropez, on the Greek islands, or in Amsterdam. Undeniably turned onto music, he sang for the first time on stage during a summer music festival in Ostend in 1969. Following this he began his career in bands, among them FreckleFace between '72 and '75. He played the harmonica. After a unique album which they produced themselves, Arno left the group for another, Tjens Couter. It was in fact a duo with Paul Decouter. Like FreckleFace their repertoire was mostly rhythm 'n'blues and in any case, very Anglo-Saxon.
Around 1977, Arno and Decouter formed TC Bland with Ferre Baelen and Rudy Cloet. The group had a certain fame and toured around Europe a lot. But in '80, joined by Serge Feys on keyboards this group became TC Matic, one of the most innovative European rock groups of the period. Quickly Decouter was replaced by Jean-Marie Aerts, who would remain one of Arno's travelling buddies. Europeans, they were indeed that. Their tours took them regularly across Scandinavia, England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. During the summer of 1981, their first namesake album was released. Then, on EMI records, they recorded several albums, among them "L'Apache" in 1982. Some of their songs like "Elle adore le noir" or "Putain Putain" are still considered today as pillar compositions of that time.
In 1985, they were the opening act for the Simple Minds during their European tour. But '85 also marked the end of TC Matic who would forever cease to exist in '86.
Arno set out on a solo career with his first namesake album as early as '86. Recorded on a bet with the musicians from TC Matic and entirely composed by Arno, the album was primarily in English. One French song came out of the lot "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" whose only words are… "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" repeated a good forty times.
During the years spent with different groups, Arno made himself a solid name in the music scene. His talent as an artist is widely recognised. As for his wild personality full of ups and downs, it puts him among the most noticed of the rock scene. In his new solo life, Arno didn't have much difficulty asserting his talent on the music scene.
In 1988 he released a second album "Charlatan" which was still primarily in English. We found however "Le Bon Dieu" a sublime cover of the most famous Belgian singers Jacques Brel. Two years later, set up in Paris, he released "Ratata". From this record written almost entirely with Jean-Marie Aerts, we recall "Lonesome Zorro" and its heady melody maintained by its chorist Beverly Brown. On June 26, 1990, Arno went on the Parisian stage at the Cigale.
In '91, Arno works on his companion Marie-Laure Beraud's album. At the same time on his solo route he didn't look down upon the idea of doing some group work. So, in 1991, he found himself with Charles et les Lulus for an eponymous album. Surrounded by Roland Van Campenhout and Adriano Cominotto, he redid some blues classics by Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Rufus Thomas. From the blues he went straight to Nashville to record a new album in 1993 "Idiots Savants". After Brel, Arno borrowed "Les Filles du bord de mer" from another famous Belgian singer Adamo. This new cover confirmed his undeniable talent to give new life to old songs. This latest remains one of his flagship songs.
On February 16th, 1994 Arno stopped off at l'Elysee Montmartre in Paris.
After Charles et les Lulus, came a new group digression with Arno et les Subrovnicks in '94. Joined by old friends Adriano Cominotto (ex-Lulu), Rudy Cloet (ex-TC Matic) and Geoffrey Burton and Francois Garny, Arno recorded the album "Water" in the South West of France.
Still in '94 Arno got started in cinema soundtracks with "Personne ne m'aime" by Frenchwoman Marion Vernoux. The cinema milieu wasn't unknown to him because in '78 in Belgium he wrote the music for the film "Le Concert d'un homme seul".
After a 20-year career primarily in English, Arno released his first album fully recorded in French in 1995. Thirteen tracks co-written with Jean-Marie Aerts or Adriano Cominotto. We find the cover of Brel's "le Bon Dieu" as well as two new songs "Elle pense à lui" by Charlélie Couture and particularly "Comme à Ostende" written by Léo Ferré and Jean-Roger Caussimon. Arno reached the top of the charts with "Les Yeux de ma mere". The album favoured the mix of genres, from tango to jazz to blues to which Arno's voice always gives a special texture.
December 13th, Arno played the Bataclan in Paris before starting off his tour around France and Switzerland and before he took off for the United States where he sang in New York and Austin, Texas.
The following year we found Arno in the cinema world but this time as an actor. He played the homosexual swimming instructor in "Camping Cosmos" by Belgian director Jan Bucquoy who also directed "La vie sexuelle des Belges" which attracted a lot of attention. Back on stage in October '96 with an evening at the Olympia on the 7th. A live album was released the following year, "Arno (en concert à la Française)" which took the best moments from his tours. An album in English was also released in '97 "Give me the gift" but it was only destined for the American market. Finally in '97, French actor Michel Piccoli gave him a role in "Alors Voilà". Arno also wrote the soundtrack.
After Charles et les Lulus, Arno went to Charles and the White Trash Blues in 1998. Within this new occasional group, where we find guitarist Geoffrey Burton he gives us an album between blues and rock and whose covers, now part of his repertoire, go from the Kinks to Nina Simone. In '99 it's again with a cover song that we find him. But this time it's as a guest on the album by American Beverly Jo Scott, who lives in Belgium. Together they did an entertaining track which is a synthesis of "la Fille du Père Noël" by Dutronc and "Jean Genie" by Bowie.
Arno returned to the music news in August '99 with a new album entitled "A Poil Commercial". Recorded in Arno's habitual blues-rock vein, "A Poil Commercial" brought the singer's husky "whisky-and-cigarettes" vocals even further to the fore.
The singer followed on with a tour spread over the year 2000 and including 170 concerts. And, after a last concert in Prague, the Parisian Cité de la Musique gave him carte blanche to put on a show of his own choice. Alone on stage with his usual band, he gave a very warm and tasteful 'bal rock', which was grandly applauded by a public of loving fans. A month later a compilation summarising his 30-year career was released.
Arno stormed back into the music news on 26 February 2002 with an album full of tender rock ballads entitled "Arno Charles Ernest" (the singer's real name). The 15 tracks on the album, recorded in a more acoustic vein than usual, included a duet with Jane Birkin ("Elisa") and a cover of the Rolling Stones classic "Mother's Little Helper". Shortly after the album release Arno kicked off a new tour with a concert at the Olympia in Paris on 8 March 2002.
Arno, the insatiable wordsmith, was back at the forefront of the music scene in May 2004 with a second album written entirely in French. The album, entitled French Bazaar, was the 26th of his career. Shot through with the lucidity and acerbic wit with which Arno has made his name, French Bazaar proves that the Flemish singer – who has just turned 55 – is still full of life and vitality.
Mother's Little Helper
Arno Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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 a mother's little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day
I hear ev'ry mother say
Cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag
So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak
And goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And to help her on her way, get her through her busy day
Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old
"Men just aren't the same today"
I hear ev'ry mother say
They just don't appreciate that you get tired
They're so hard to satisfy, You can tranquilize your mind
So go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And four help you through the night, help to minimize your plight
Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old
"Life's just much too hard today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
The pusuit of happiness just seems a bore
And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
They just helped you on your way, through your busy dying day
Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old
Arno's "Mother's Little Helper" is a song that speaks to the difficulties and anxieties of motherhood, and how society can sometimes make it harder to be a good mother. The lyrics are a commentary on the pressures facing mothers, and how they sometimes turn to drugs to cope with the demands placed on them.
The first verse talks about how kids are different today, and how mothers need something to calm them down. It's not necessarily that they're sick, but they need a little help to get through the day. The little yellow pill is a reference to Valium, which was a popular tranquilizer during the time this song was written. The second verse talks about how things are different today, and how cooking fresh food for a husband is a drag. Mothers are expected to do everything, and so they turn to quick fixes like instant cakes and frozen steak. The third verse is where things start to get a little darker. The woman is asking the doctor for more pills outside the door, suggesting that she's become addicted. She's not just taking them to get through the day, she's taking them to escape her problems.
The song then shifts to the difficulties of being a woman in a relationship. Men just aren't the same today, and they don't appreciate how tired women get. They're hard to satisfy, so mothers turn to tranquilizers to calm their minds. The final verse talks about how life is just too hard today, and the pursuit of happiness seems like a bore. If you take too many pills, you'll get an overdose, and so the mother stops running to the shelter of her little helper. They've helped her get through her busy, dying day, but they're not going to help her anymore.
Overall, the song is a critique of the societal expectations placed on women, and how they sometimes resort to drugs to cope. It's a poignant commentary on the difficulties facing mothers, and how they're often left to deal with everything on their own.
Line by Line Meaning
Kids are different today, I hear every mother say
Mothers believe the new generation of children is more difficult to raise than previous generations.
Mother needs something today to calm her down
Mothers feel overwhelmed and stressed and need something to help them relax.
And though she's not really ill, there's a little yellow pill
Mothers aren't necessarily sick, but they take medication to cope with their stress and anxiety.
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
Mothers rely on medication to relieve their stress and help them get through their hectic daily routines.
Things are different today, I hear every mother say, cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag
Mothers find it tedious to cook fresh food for their families and resort to quick, easy-to-prepare meals instead.
So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak
Mothers opt for instant, pre-made foods and often fail in their attempts to cook from scratch due to their busy schedules.
Doctor please, some more of these, outside the door, she took four more, what a drag it is getting old
Mothers become addicted to their medication and request more from their doctors, recognizing the hardships of aging.
Men just aren't the same today, I hear every mother say, they just don't appreciate that you get tired
Mothers feel men are less understanding of their exhaustion and stress levels.
They're so hard to satisfy, you can tranquilize your mind, so go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
Mothers take medication to calm themselves and alleviate their stress caused by demanding partners and family members.
And four help you through the night, help minimize your plight
Mothers rely on medication to help them sleep and cope with their difficult circumstances.
Life's just much too hard today, I hear every mother say, the pursuit of happiness just seems a bore
Mothers find it challenging to maintain happiness in their lives and often view it as a tiresome pursuit.
And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose, no more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
Mothers are warned against overdosing on medication and encouraged to seek alternative coping mechanisms.
They just helped you on your way, through your busy dying day
Mothers are reminded that medication is only a temporary solution to their problems and cannot prevent their eventual death.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Abkco Music Inc.
Written by: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Lise Delys
Magnifique ...merci Arno.❤❤❤
Philippe Henon
Superbe Arno Bravo tu sublimes cette petite Merveille des Stones...
Maya Pi
C'est juste magnifique
assurdo888
So glad of havin' known this artist tonight! And this version of "m.l.h." just makes clear the reality of a person who feels alone on the inside, non-appreciated for what she/he does for others, and that is not able to find a better way out than drugs, or other kinds of addictions. Today the mother's little helper may be compulsive shopping, and although it cannot kill you or get your mind into a mush it can be alienating even more: substitute feelings with unanimated objects and shut the XXXX up, it basically means, having to buy and buy and buy some more to feel alive!
powmillon
Just came across this a few days ago. Unbelievable version so natural and beautiful.
Randall Mac Murphy
everything that you can do, Arno can do but better.
ctl073
Eindelijk eens een echt goede cover van de Rolling Stones!
LTS PROD Libère Tes Sons, Libère Tes Sensations
Adieux Monsieur "fleur de peau ,effleureur de l'âme" mon coeur saigne
jesa2000
Hoe ouder Arno wordt, hoe beter en gevoeliger zijn nummers worden. Van mij mag hij 110 worden.
decadans57
OMG, hij wordt echt met het jaar beter