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There was a period of time at the turn of the century when any moderately successful television series eventually released a “soundtrack” of music “inspired” by its respective series. This is also the case with Music From And Inspired By Desperate Houswives.

While labeled as a soundtrack, the music featured on this release was never actually used in the series when it was initially released in late 2005.

Liz contributed “Mother’s Little Helper,” a top ten hit originally written and performed by The Rolling Stones.


Desperate Housewives

Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives (2005)

Released: September 20, 2005
Label: Hollywood Records
Format: CD, Cassette
Country: US, Canada, Indonesia
Availability: Moderate

“Mother’s Little Helper” written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger

Engineered by Brian Scheuble
Mixed by Brian Scheuble and John Alagia
Produced by John Alagia

Published by ABKCO Music, Inc. (BMI)

No.ArtistTitleLength
01. Brenda StrongMary Alice0:48
02. SHeDAISYGod Bless the American Housewife3:43
03. Nicollette SheridanEdie0:04
04.Shania TwainShoes3:55
05.Anna NalickBand of Gold3:11
06.Felicity HuffmanLynette0:13
07.Liz PhairMother’s Little Helper3:02
08.Indigo GirlsMrs. Robinson3:46
09.Martina McBrideHarper Valley PTA3:26
10.Marcia CrossBree0:06
11.LeAnn RimesWe’re Running Out Of Time4:07
12.Joss StoneTreat Me Right (I’m Yours For Life)4:01
13.Sara EvansOne’s On The Way3:22
14.Eva LongoriaGabrielle0:04
15.Macy GrayBoom Boom2:40
16.Gloria EstefanYoung Hearts Run Free3:45
17.Teri HatcherSusan0:06
18.Idina MenzelDamsel in Distress3:08
19.k.d. langDream Of The Everyday Housewife3:53
20.Brenda StrongMary Alice0:12
21.Danny ElfmanDesperate Housewives Theme0:39
hiddenMarc CherryWisteria Lane1:24

Trivia

The Canadian version of this soundtrack featured a bonus track of SHeDAISY performing “God Bless the Canadian Housewife,” —a song written by Jann Arden and Russell Broom which is virtually similar to track #2.

Reception

Fans of the TV show Desperate Housewives are a mighty devoted bunch: thankfully, the wickedly clever dialogue and sassy badness of the characters is succinctly captured on the show’s first compilation disc. This CD’s lineup alone elicits an immediate “wow” response: Shania Twain, Joss Stone, LeAnn Rimes, Macy Gray, Indigo Girls, k.d. lang, and more have each packed the collection with previously-unreleased music. With half of the disc recently-written songs and half covers of old classics, the originals ultimately prove to be the highlight. Shania Twain’s “Shoes” is a future line-dancin’ classic, analogizing men to shoes (“a girl can’t never have too many of ’em”). Joss Stone’s “Treat Me Right” is nothing short of sexy, soul perfection, while SheDaisy’s performance of the Jann Arden -penned “God Bless the American Housewife” kicks things off in a dark country style. The “who’s that girl with the voice?” award goes to Idina Menzel (RentWicked) for her powerhouse performance of “Damsel In Distress.”

The covers on this CD are ultimately more clever than killer, but Liz Phair’s take on the Rolling Stones’ “Mother’s Little Helper,” the Indigo Girls’ “Mrs. Robinson,” and Martina McBride’s “Harper Valley PTA” match the mood of the series perfectly. For no extra charge, there’s some classic Desperate sound clips on the disc: quick audio bites taken from the show, providing glimpses of its compelling, acerbic tone. –Denise Sheppard, Amazon.com


Apart from Danny Elfman’s score, music doesn’t play a big part on Marc Cherry’s runaway television hit Desperate Housewives, but any show that’s this popular gets a soundtrack anyway — hence, the fall 2005 release of Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives, just in time for the DVD release of the first season and the debut of the second. Since there’s not much music in the show, that means that the 13 songs here are all “inspired” by the series — which, in turn, means that they’re all songs about marriage or girl power, all performed by female artists. Instead of relying on previously released material, the producers have commissioned new recordings, which helps give this a fresh feel even if there are no less than six covers of well-known oldies about marriage and motherhood. At first, the artist lineup looks rather diverse, since it contains everything from Shania Twain and Martina McBride to Liz Phair, Joss Stone, Gloria Estefan, Indigo Girls, and Macy Gray, but it doesn’t take long to realize that everything here is firmly within the confines of adult pop, fitting both adult contemporary and adult alternative formats quite nicely. This is classy and clever, well-produced music that is not without a few missteps (chief among them Liz Phair’s flat-footed “Mother’s Little Helper” and Macy Gray’s jazzy “Boom Boom”), but is heavier on the highlights: Anna Nalick belts out “Band of Gold,” Shania Twain’s “Shoes” is sublimely silly, Joss Stone’s “Treat Me Right (I’m Yours for Life)” has a nicely mellow groove, and Sara Evans’ treatment of “One’s on the Way” may be faithful but it’s still a lot of fun. These are of such a similar mind set that the snippets of dialogue from the show are not only not needed to tie this together, but they get to be a little irritating (and Mary Alice’s voice-over narration has never sounded so smug and cloying as it does here, separated from the visuals). All the same, Desperate Housewives is a surprisingly entertaining soundtrack, especially for a show that doesn’t really feature pop music in the first place.

— Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic


Lyrics

Mother’s Little Helper

Oh what a drag it is to get old

Kids are different today
I hear ever 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

Things are different today
I hear every mother say
Cooking fresh food for her husband’s just a drag
So she buys an instant cake and she burns a frozen steak
And goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper
And to help her on her way
Gets 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

Things just aren’t the same today
I hear every mother say
They just don’t appreciate that you get tired
They’re so hard to satisfy
You can tranquilize your mind
And go running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper
And to help you through the night
Help to minimize your plight

Doctor, please, some of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

Life is much too hard today
I hear every mother say
The pursuit 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 her mother’s little helper
They just helped you on your way
Through your busy, dying day


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