Email letters@uncut.co.uk. Or tweet us at twitter.com/uncutmagazine CHARLIEISOUR DARLING
TVTIMES/GETTYIMAGES;GIEKNAEPS/GETTYIMAGES
Ever since the first show I saw with Mom in Denver in ’94 (the amazing culmination of all the years listening to her scratchy vinyls) to the last with Pop in Seattle in 2019, a Stones concert was like a grand pagan spectacle, a throwback to a more legendary, sophisticated time in rock and pop music. But beneath the massed woo-woos on “Sympathy For The Devil”, the fireworks, videoscreens and Vegas glare, Charlie Watts was the dignified centre. During band introductions he was always introduced last, to the loudest cheers and applause, Keith and Ronnie genuflecting to his drum-stand. Everyone knew his value. He wasn’t an atom-bomb smasher like John Bonham or human octopus like Keith Moon, he just knew the right tempo and beat to complement Mick and Keith’s songs – though he did have his stand-out moments. Listen to his Indian tabla on “Factory Girl” or the fills on “Mother’s Little Helper” and “Loving Cup”. Now Charlie’s gone. Sure, the music endures, rough, gritty and alive, but that beautiful contrast Charlie provided the band – dapper, elegant, honest white hair, the only one still married to the same spouse since the ’60s – is no longer. He was a model for ageing with energy, grace and style. With his death an amazing, unforgettable saga of live and recorded music and fandom just doesn’t feel the same any more, and a section of my life has come to a close. Charlie, you’ve gone home to your horses and Shirley for good now. RIP our dear, dear Charlie Watts. Stephen Conn, New Mexico, USA …My favourite Charlie moment must be the interview with David Hepworth for a “25 years of the Stones” film the BBC made in 1986. Charlie gives him a really bumpy ride, ending with the classic line after being asked how 25 years with the band has been: “…five years playing and 20 years hanging around!” Thankfully preserved for all on YouTube. RIP Charlie. Grahame Rhodes, Chester …I was a 15-year-old kid looking at music magazines in a liquor/ convenience store in a Sacramento 112 • UNCUT • NOVEMBER 2021
The Stones’ “dignified centre”: Charlie Watts plays Ready Steady Go!, London, 1964
suburb in 1965. The place was empty except for me and the clerk when in walked Bill Wyman, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts. Of course, I had to shake their hands… Tom Gillies, via Facebook …As a guitarist who loves studying drummers, I’ll always remember playing congas along to Charlie on the Stripped version of “Wild Horses” just before I heard the sad news he’d died. I like the relaxed way he waits and starts playing a minute into the song. Even if you’re not a drummer, try drumming along anyway – you really get an appreciation of how good people like Charlie Watts are. Phil Rey, via Facebook Thanks for sharing your memories and thoughts of Charlie. Please continue to send them in. We hope we did him justice elsewhere in this issue. [MB]
SERGEANT WILLKO
short, is superb. Woollybacks, povos, keks, nudgers, liggers. I enjoyed every word of Will Iggy Pop is an influence, who Will Sergeant’s memoir and can’t help admits to ligging with some fellow but feel I’ve been to Melling and fans after a wild performance at back. Thanks to Michael Bonner for Eric’s. Not much time passes before his article [August issue], whose he too suffers his admirers’ praise for the book persuaded me to intrusions, as he must have in ’87 rush ahead and buy the UK edition when the Bunnymen played in from Blackwell’s. Bunnyman, in Evanston (where I lived) and stayed at the Orrington Hotel (where I worked). Overjoyed to say the least, I met some of the band in the hotel bar and eagerly handed ut my business card to anyone illing to take it. Will obliged me with an autograph and doodle on the back of one card, which I put back in my shirt pocket. Later on, heading oward the door for home, heard the sound of an Bunnyman nglishman – two, actually, Will Sergeant at Belgium’s ne of whom stood very tall – Werchter hecking in at the front desk. Festival, July 5, 1987 introduced myself, offered
