Mick Jagger is typically close lipped when it comes to his feelings, but he opened up about the loss of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts in an interview with The Guardian.
“It’s a couple of years now, and I still think about Charlie a lot. I miss his laconic humor. His taste in music. His elegance. His don’t-care attitude – he didn’t get intense. Keith (Richards) and I get a bit intense.” He adds that he's "not as intense" as he "used to be."
Back to Charlie, he says, “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... 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... It’s easier that way!”
Watts does play on two tracks on the new Stones album, Hackney Diamonds -- “Live by the Sword,” which also features former Stones bassist Bill Wyman and Elton John on piano, and "Mess It Up." Steve Jordan, who he handpicked to "replace" him should the situation arise, plays on the others.
Watts died on August 24th, 2021 from cancer. He was 80.