The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has reflected on the life and death of his late bandmate and drummer, Charlie Watts.
Charlie, who passed away in 2021 and was the band’s longest-serving member after Mick and Keith Richards, is featured on some songs of the band’s newest album, Hackney Diamonds, having recorded various drum segments before his death.
Speaking to The Guardian to promote the album – their first of original material in 18 years – Mick opened up about Charlie’s life and legacy, and paid tribute to the late musical legend.
“I still think about Charlie a lot,” Mick said, before adding that he wished his friend could have seen a recent England cricket match. “I miss his laconic humour. His taste in music. His elegance. His don’t-care attitude – he didn’t get intense. Keith and I get a bit intense.”
Mick went on to praise Charlie’s calming nature, and revealed that the latter’s attitude had rubbed off on him before his death.
“Charlie wouldn’t [get intense], and it rubs off a bit – I’m not as intense as I used to be. I think about him when I’m playing, and what he would have played; whether he’d have liked this song, because I’d always bounce things off him. I’d be playing him the silly pop songs of the moment, and he’d love all that.”
Following on in a disarmingly matter-of-fact manner, Mick went on to say that although loss doesn’t get easier as you age, it’s a fact that people have to confront more often.
“I hate to say this: As you get older, a lot of your friends die…. There’s a lot of people around your age, they’re dying all the time.
“I don’t have any friends older than me, only one. Apart from the band, all my friends are much younger.”
But, when asked if Charlie’s death had forced the 80-year-old’s own mortality, he denied the matter: “You’re aware of your own mortality from quite an early age – it’s not something that occurs to you in your 70s.”
Hackney Diamonds, by the Rolling Stones, is out now.