Mick Jagger discusses “huge loss” of Charlie Watts and his own mortality
The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has opened up about the “huge loss” of the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts, their relationship, and his own mortality as part of a new interview.
During an interview on Q with Tom Power, Jagger spoke about knowing Watts since he was 19 and explained how they bonded over their love of football and cricket. He also revealed how music was integral to their friendship with Watts, turning him on to an array of new sounds, such as reggae, long before Bob Marley popularised the genre.
Jagger continued: “It’s very difficult to lose friends, you know, as you get older, you lose a lot of friends, and not only friends but people who have been in your life, whether they’re musicians you’ve admired or actors. Whatever they are, lots of people of your age group or generation, you might say, are all gone, which is why I think I’ve got a lot of friends who aren’t in my age group.”
He added: “I don’t want to just hang around with younger people, but a lot of the people from my generation are no longer here, so what am I going to do? It’s a big loss when it’s somebody you’ve known for 60 years and worked with, it’s a huge loss.”
When asked if it was “scary” to lose Watts, Jagger replied: “I don’t know if it’s scary, it’s very sad, and of course, you think of your own mortality, but people think about that from much earlier ages than mine. People usually think about mortality when you lose your first pet”.
He added: “That’s part of life, we’ve had a lot of sadness. Brian Jones died, and a lot of young people died in their twenties, a lot of famous musicians we admire.”
Meanwhile, in another recent interview, Jagger discussed the band’s upcoming collaboration with Paul McCarton on the Hackney Diamonds track ‘Bite My Head Off’.
The frontman remarked: “I didn’t know what song to do. Should we do ‘Depending on You,’ like a ballad? Or something else? And Andy said, ‘Well, let’s try him on your punk song, on ‘Bite My Head Off’.‘ Paul seemed very happy to play in a band where he didn’t have all the responsibility; he was just the bass player. And he really rocked out. He fitted straight in. It was like we’d been playing with him for years. It was a really good feeling.”
Watch the new interview below.
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