The hilarious moment Charlie Watts upstaged Mick Jagger
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Credit: Alamy
Listen to the isolated drums of Charlie Watts on The Rolling Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Women’
The late Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones made one hell of a mark on the world of drumming. A genuine anomaly when it came to the landscape of rockstars, his trademark personality is as unmistakable as his drumming style, and for nearly 60 years he was the band’s rhythmic and personal ballast, an unwavering professional who steadied the ship even when everything around him had descended into utter chaos.
It is hard to imagine how the band’s career would have panned out without Watts, who was one part drumming hero and one part minder, and the absence of his sobering presence would certainly have led to self-inflicted destruction for the London outfit, as their hedonistic way of life threatened their future on numerous occasions when they were at the peak of their powers.
Watts made it very clear over his life that he had a complex, love-hate relationship with the extensive touring that came as a necessity of being in one of the biggest bands of all time, which made his position as a foil to the unfettered debauchery of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Co. an even more challenging one.
A refined character, Watts was a connoisseur and designer of great art, and over his long career, he sketched every hotel room he stayed in and kept each one. A compulsive habit, its origins always perplexed him but gives us an indication of the kind of man he was, sharp and measured – leading by example, something that – broadly speaking – his bandmates and peers did not do.
Watts was invariably depicted as the old head of the band, and following this, it makes a lot of sense that he was primarily influenced by the form of jazz, a departure from the relatively simple blues that his bandmates were inspired by. A complex individual, outside of The Stones, Watts was a jazz bandleader, commercial artist, and even a horse breeder, reflecting the kind of panache he brought to the world of rock.
Understandably, this suave essence bled into his drumming style, which he had been honing since he was 14 by listening to the jazz records he had collected, something that was incredibly mature for a boy of that age. Holding his sticks like the great jazz drummers such as Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich, in sound and style Watts was an iconoclast, and he gave us many stellar moments from behind the kit over the years.
One of the greatest is 1969’s ‘Honky Tonk Women’. A swaggering piece, whilst the drums are fairly simple, it is the attitude with which Watts laid them down that truly carries the song, giving Richards‘ guitar and Jagger’s vocal performances the support they needed to create this classic piece.
Luckily for us, Watts’ isolated drum track has been unearthed, and the power of his performance is plain for all to hear, as the ghost notes and off beats that he utilises towards the end of the song shows just how greatly he was indebted to jazz, and how he gave The Stones the dynamism they needed to stop their music from becoming boring.
