Rest In peace, Charlie Watts. Job well done. There’s not much left to say that hasn’t already been said about Charlie Watts in all the press since he died a few days ago. So, no obituary here. Just fond memories. I encountered Charlie’s drumming when I first started playing drums in the 6th grade. I had no idea who the drummer was on those old Stones records. The drumming alone stood out. I was fortunate to see Charlie and the Stones play in Nashville in June 2015. Don McCaulay, who teched for Charlie for many years, invited me and a few other vintage drum nuts to come backstage and check out Charlie’s drum set. Charlie had quite a collection of vintage drums, many of them being famous drummers’ personal sets. He was actually meeting backstage that day with DJ Fontana about acquiring THE Elvis drum set. I sent a collection of Not So Modern Drummer back issues to Charlie via Don. Don said he really enjoyed them. Charlie was one of us: a gigging drummer who loved vintage drums.
When I received my first snare drum in the sixth grade I played along to the 45 rpm single record of “Satisfaction” incessantly. I still, to this day, think it is the best rock and roll drum track ever recorded…and it’s nothing but quarter notes on the snare drum and bass drum! Unrelenting, pile driving, perfect timing, tempo like a metronome, simple quarter notes. It’s so simple that you wait in anticipation of a little variation -expecting him to break face. But NO. The only syncopation or busy-ness is Mick Jagger’s tambourine part.
It was not widely known that Charlie was a jazz drummer who had several jazz bands and released jazz albums during his long career. He started as a jazz drummer - pre Stones. So he could have played a busier drum part on Satisfaction; some Tom fills, a crash cymbal here and there, a syncopated lick, etc. But he DIDN’T, because he was a great drummer who knew how to play for the song. Just like Ringo, he knew the songs were not about the drums, but about the listener’s ears, the dancer’s feet, the band’s collective sound. Before you criticize Charlie Watt's simple parts on simple songs in a simple band, go listen to his jazz records. Thank you, Charlie Watts for teaching me how to play rock and roll drums. I’ll be listening to your jazz recordings on Spotify today.