The Wisdom of Charlie Watts

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was a man of few words … very few but often his quotes were biting.

Here are 10 of his best:

You’d imagine Mick would be the happiest person in the world, and yet a lot of the times he isn’t.

The world of this is a load of crap. You get all these bloody people, so incredibly sycophantic.

When I was a kid I never learned to play. I actually got in bands through watching people play and copying them.

I think The Rolling Stones have gotten a lot better. An awful lot better, I think. A lot of people don’t, but I think they have, and to me that’s gratifying. It’s worth it.

Chuck Berry’s studio band – there isn’t a better rock’n’roll band. That’s where we got it from. “Roll Over Beethoven” by everybody else is a joke.

“I didn’t know what the hell Charlie Parker played…I just liked the way he played it.”

Rock And Roll Has Probably Given More Than It’s Taken.

I hate leaving home. I love what I do, but I’d love to go home every night.

I think you get to a point where you watch something just to enjoy it. I don’t think it’s really done so that you’re supposed to feel, Oh, he’s the most wonderful drummer. I think the whole lot is what’s more enjoyable.

In the mid-60s the tours would be a trip around England, then a trip around America, recording in America, back to Europe, England to America. You were living together the whole time, and we used to get a month off, at the most. You were younger, though. And also you were more photogenic, to be honest. I don’t think Keith would want you photographing him at two in the morning now.

The Rolling Stones announced the passing of Charlie today just weeks after he dropped off the upcoming Stones North American tour.