Inspired by a discussion over at the rock and coffee blog Larff At Us Pros on the talent of Charlie Watts I put together a small set of the elegantly dressed one's wisdom.
"You don't think I take this seriously do you? It's just a fuckin' rock and roll band"
"When I'm at home I listen to classical music most of the time on the radio. If I put CDs on I usually play jazz. But my wife plays ah, what do you call it, rock 'n' roll or soul music, Motown, things like that, so I hear all of it."
"I don't need to hear Bill to go through a song. I need to hear Keith to go through a song. I know Bill will be playing what I'm playing anyway. I need to hear Keith because it's all there: the time, the chord changes, and all the licks you have to follow."
"I never had lessons. Used to try to play to records, which I hated doing. Still can't play to them."
"I've seen Keith fall asleep at business meetings about millions of dollars for him-because of heroin, just nod out and then wake up and answer a question."
"Keith is the start and the finish. I have to hear Mick, but I can follow Mick like lip-synch almost if the mic goes out. It's not as much fun, but I can do that. But if I don't hear Keith, I get completely lost in things."
"My whole block used to listen to Savoy jazz records as kids. I never used to listen to Elvis Presley or anything. It's only through meeting Mick and Keith, really that I got interested in things like that. The only person I suppose I really loved a lot was Fats Domino."
"The world of this is a load of crap. You get all these bloody people, so incredibly sycophantic."
"Usually I can hear the pianos, the saxophone, and usually I can hear Ronnie. But I really need to listen to Keith and Mick. The rest of the band is sort of an embellishment to that."
"When people talk about the '60s I never think that was me there. It was me and I was in it, but I was never enamoured with all that. It's supposed to be sex and drugs and rock and roll and I'm not really like that. I've never really seen the Rolling Stones as anything."
"Another drummer who's quite brilliant is Jerry Allison. He used to play with Buddy Holly and The Crickets. He's probably the best player that I know. He doesn't really play the drums-he plays the songs, and that is really more important within the context of that music."
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