You have to exclude “Happy” and “Shine A Light”, where Jimmy Miller plays the drums.
I didn’t know that. Ignorance fought!
And apparently he was faithful to her the entire time and had no time for groupies, something none of his band mates could ever say.
He had his own substance abuse issues, so he didn’t emerge unscathed from the rock and roll grinder. But he was undoubtedly the most grounded and stable out of all of them. Any guy who compulsively sketched every hotel room he ever stayed in is either a monument to consistency or a testament to OCD monomania 
.
RIP Charlie.
I also didn’t know that for a long time. Jimmy Miller was a great drummer of his own, and sometimes he suggested a groove of which Charlie thought he couldn’t match it and let Jimmy play it. Miller also played drums on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. It really isn’t obvious, because he plays very similarly to Charlie, very groove-based.
Well, Sticky Fingers just ended and I may have to add “Moonlight Mile” to the list. Watts may have been the most reliable, least flashy drummer in rock history, but his cymbals add a true majesty to the strings at the end of that tune.
Damn, I thought those guys could survive a nuclear blast and come out even stronger.
My favorite Stones video:
Watts was a very big part of the Stones success. He’ll be missed.
Charlie can finally say…
Get off of My Cloud
I always thought Sympathy for the Devil was either autobiographical or a PR piece - because I just know they sold their souls for immortality, living as long as they collectively did.
Well damn. Definitely one of the classiest guys in rock 'n roll history.
I’m as sad as I was when I heard about Bowie.
In an interview held about 20 years ago, Keith said he admired Charlie’s dedication and perfection. He recalled watching him leave the drumsticks arranged a certain way before walking off stage and being impressed by his insistence on getting that last detail just right after all had been said and done. Words to that effect.
Yeah. Just … fuck.
Got a tear in my eye for this one.
There’s a lot of good information in this article. Charlie used his earnings to put together Jazz bands. He recorded and performed with them whenever he had the time.
This video is as old as MTV.
Beast Of Burden
Last public photo of Charlie and his wife in May 2020. The Stones postponed the 2020 tour because of Covid.
He looks so frail. I’m not sure he could have toured last Sumner.
I’m amazed he made it to 80 considering the kind of life he lived in a Rock and Roll band. In contrast, Brian Jones died 52 years ago.
Without knowing exactly what was implied there, Charlie Watts famously eschewed and disdained most of the stereotypical elements of that “kind of life:”
Watts stayed on, and largely held himself apart, through the drug abuse, creative clashes and ego wars that helped kill founding member Brian Jones, drove bassist Bill Wyman and Jones’ replacement Mick Taylor to quit and otherwise made being in the Stones a most exhausting job.
Author Philip Norman, who has written extensively about the Rolling Stones, said Watts lived “in constant hope of being allowed to catch the next plane home.” On tour, he made a point of drawing each hotel room he stayed in, a way of marking time until he could return to his family.
Which – to what I’m guessing is your point – may well have had a great deal to do with his longevity.
To which I can only respond, “Bravo, Charlie!” 
That smirk Charlie Watts has, the few times the camera zooms in on his face, it looks like he’s thinking “this is all so silly”.