(siren wailing)
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
The Rolling Stones.
(audience applauding) (drums beating)
- [Narrator] In September 2021,
The Rolling Stones did something
they hadn't done since 1963,
perform without their drummer, Charlie Watts.
(drums beating)
For the Stones and their fans,
it's an event packed with emotion.
Every concert on the tour begins
with the same moving tribute,
the sound of Charlie's steady beat,
something that powered the band for nearly 60 years.
(drums beating) (audience applauding)
- I just wanna say to you all
that it's really quite emotional
seeing those pictures of Charlie up on the screen.
(audience clamoring)
And this is our first tour that we've ever done without him.
(audience clamoring)
'Cause we all miss Charlie so much
on the stage and off the stage,
and we'd like to dedicate this tour to Charlie.
So here's to you, Charlie.
(audience clamoring) (bright music)
- Charlie Watts, I'm still dealing with it.
(gentle music)
- I miss Charlie on many levels. (laughs)
Like I miss wanting to play him this new groove.
And I wanna say how badly England's done
in the Test Match yesterday.
I miss him really a lot.
♪ I'm just waiting on a friend ♪
- When Charlie passed,
we're mind blown.
We have the spirit of Charlie playing with us all the time.
- [Narrator] Charlie Watts was the driving force
behind everything the Stones did, their heartbeat.
His drumming shaped the music we have loved for six decades.
- [Sheryl] He laid down the feel
for songs that are now my age.
Oh, I'm gonna start crying.
(audience clamoring)
- [Tina] No matter how fast
Mick went across the stage doing the Pony or whatever,
he was right there with him.
- [Slash] It was a real shock when he passed,
the realization that there possibly is an end
to a band that's been going on and on and on
for so many decades.
(audience screaming)
- I can't imagine the Stones without Charlie Watts.
Charlie was the engine,
the best drummer England has ever produced.
(audience cheering)
- [Announcer] Mr. Watts, walk in and hit your mark.
- Yeah, go on.
What? - Say your words.
(beep) - It's all about me,
and I'm the star, for once.
(band members laughing) (beep)
(speaking in foreign language)
(audience applauding)
- [Sheryl] The way it kicks in,
with just a kick and a snare.
("Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones)
- [Lars] When you hear the intro to that,
it just becomes a physical reaction
that overtakes your body.
(upbeat music)
♪ I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis ♪
♪ She tried to take me upstairs for a ride ♪
♪ She had to heave me ♪ - When I first heard
"Honky Tonk Women,"
I thought, "Man, that's funky."
Charlie is a huge part of that
because when there's something that is funky,
a lot of it emanates from the drums.
♪ It's the honky tonk women ♪
- Charlie and I, we were very orientated towards dance,
and so that's what brought us together,
'cause it's about beats.
What do drummers do?
They lay down a beat to dance.
♪ I laid a divorcee in New York City ♪
- Charlie sounded like an American drummer.
He had that American feel, that's what it was.
If I closed my eyes with Charlie,
I'd probably figure it was a black drummer.
- [Chris] Keith knew from the very beginning
that they'd found someone who was unique and so special,
not only his performance, but in his character as well.
♪ It's the honky tonk women ♪
- [Sheryl] The marriage between Keith and Charlie
made up its own instrument.
The space they gave each other, the way the instruments fell
was like a tapestry.
- [Keith] I usually look at Charlie
and he'll give me a grin 'cause it's clicking.
And it's almost like you don't even wanna touch the strings
'cause they're doing it themselves,
and anyway, they'd be too hot.
("Honky Tonk Women" continues)
- The great thing about Charlie
is he knew every number could fall apart just like that,
when you least expect it.
And that's what makes it so magic.
The element of risk is what drives our band.
♪ Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues ♪
♪ It's the honky tonk women ♪
- [Narrator] "Honky Tonk Women" is the culmination
of everything The Rolling Stones developed
on their rise to fame.
♪ Honky tonk blues ♪
♪ Wooh ♪
(audience applauding)
(man speaking in foreign language)
- I like the fella that plays the drums.
- [Journalist] Charlie. - Charlie. (laughs)
- You like him? - Yeah.
(upbeat music)
(fans screaming)
- [Charlie] Ever since I've been with The Rolling Stones,
this has nothing to do with me, by the way,
people have come to look at us.
(audience applauding)
We've had a following, and it's been quite incredible.
(fans screaming)
What I call the Beatles period,
which is exactly what was happening to them
was happening to us.
(fans screaming)
- [Journalist] How do you think being a success
has influenced you as a person?
- Well, I no longer think,
unfortunately, about spending five pounds. (chuckles)
That really is the only difference it's made to me.
(fans screaming)
I loved it, as far as the excitement and the crowd.
It's fantastic.
And when you see a balcony
in one of these beautiful old theaters
in the North of England bouncing up and down,
it's incredible when you're looking at the audience.
(bright music)
During that period, we never played more than two songs.
They'd announce The Rolling Stones, the curtains would open,
the whole place would go mad, and within about three songs,
they'd break the whole thing up and we'd have to get off.
Apart from going in studios, we didn't play a great deal
'cause we actually never got through a set.
(gentle music)
- [Journalist] Do you think it's changed
your attitude to people?
(gentle music)
- No, I think it's changed people's attitude to me.
But really, when the music stopped,
I wished I could have turned it off, I hated it.
I hated being chased by girls and all that.
It used to really embarrass me.
It's always been that's what The Rolling Stones do.
Not me.
I think The Rolling Stones are great,
but I kind of don't see me in it somehow.
(fans screaming) (gentle music)
- [Narrator] Charlie always had an ambivalent relationship
with stardom and the Stones.
But what sets Charlie apart from his band mates
actually makes him their perfect partner,
the anchor in any rock and roll storm.
(gentle brooding music)
And what he brings in character and playing style
is writ large on their first American trip.
They want to replicate the success of The Beatles
just three months earlier,
but with Charlie on board, there's a twist.
- [Steve] All the British Invasion bands
had a deep love for the blues and rhythm and blues,
but not all of them had an appreciation of jazz.
Jazz is a key component to rock and roll music.
It's not always talked about.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] The Rolling Stones' deep appreciation of jazz
is down to Charlie Watts.
And while the rest of the band
worship at the feet of the blues,
(bright music)
Charlie has a different church.
- [Charlie] We landed in New York,
and I went to a jazz club
at the Village Vanguard or Birdland.
I saw two artists at Birdland,
one was Charlie Mingus's band, which was pretty amazing,
and the other was Sonny Rollins.
That was America. (chuckles)
I didn't care about the rest of it.
- [Narrator] Jazz is Charlie's first and enduring love.
Even as his rhythms for the Stones
quickly earn him a reputation
as one of the greatest rock drums of all time,
jazz is never far away.
(lively rock music)
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
(lively rock music continues)
♪ I hear you talking when I'm on the street ♪
♪ Your mouth don't move but I can hear you speak ♪
- [Max] Well, when you're talking
about the song "Rocks Off,"
which is one of my personal favorites,
the fills, if you listen to the fills,
they were in odd places.
♪ Really checking out for sure ♪
So whatever he's responding to,
he's in the moment having a musical conversation.
♪ I'm always hearing voices on the street ♪
- [Max] That's jazz.
That's jazz because it's so spontaneous.
♪ But I can't hardly speak ♪
♪ I was making love last night ♪
♪ To a dancer friend of mine ♪
♪ I can't seem to stay in step ♪
♪ Come every time that she pirouettes over me ♪
- [Keith] To me, the essence of what we do as a band
and where Charlie comes from
is basically you go back to the word jazz.
♪ I only get my rocks off while I'm sleeping ♪
- [Narrator] Charlie Watts first discovers
the music he loves the most
as a young boy growing up in post-war Wembley Park.
(gentle music)
- How we doing? - Yeah, yeah, here we go.
Watch out, he's joined us.
(Dave Green laughs)
We grew up together from the age of four
and listened to all this music.
- [Dave] It was funny because we started
becoming interested in music in tandem really.
We moved into prefabs in Wembley Park, literally next door,
we came out our front door
straight into Charlie's.
- [Newsreader] Aluminium bungalows are being erected here
at the rate of one every 35 minutes.
The house seems to spring up.
And before you smoke your third cigarette,
the curtains are going up in the living room.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Dave] There were neat rows of prefabs,
it's all the same size,
and there was a great feeling of community living there.
Nobody was any better off than anybody else,
so it was a fantastic place for kids to live.
- [Narrator] With holes in the fences,
the boys can go back and forth between each other's houses,
(lively jazz music)
where these young Londoners discover a taste
for American jazz.
- [Dave] Charlie was into bebop before I was.
I would go Charlie's bedroom,
he'd say, "I've got a new record."
- All right, here they are.
This is Charlie Parker and the famous Dizzy Gillespie.
- [Charlie] Okay, fellas, let's go.
(lively jazz music)
- [Watts] I heard Charlie Parker play,
and that's what I liked.
- That's where he set everything was from Charlie Parker.
- [Dave] His love of Charlie Parker
was absolutely immeasurable.
It sounded like music from outer space.
(lively jazz music)
It transported you to another world.
New York in the '40,
52nd Street.
It was total magic.
- [Charlie Watts] '50s America, they're the people I love.
I was in '50s America really is where my thing is,
and I still kind of look like that in a way.
- [Announcer] Charlie Parker, Gato, sax, and Bill Evans.
(lively jazz music)
(drums beating)
- [Charlie Watts] The first drummer
I wanted to be ever was Chico Hamilton,
who was with Gerry Mulligan on "Walkin' Shoes."
(drums beating)
I had a banjo, took the neck off it
and started playing on this banjo skin
with a pair of brushes.
Then my dad bought me a set of drums
from the guy who played in the pub.
- [Dave] This is Lil, Charlie's mom,
talking about Charlie.
"Charlie always wanted a drum set
and used to rap out tunes on the table
with pieces of wood or a knife and fork.
We bought him his first drum set for Christmas
when he was 14, it cost 12 pounds.
He took to it straightaway
and often used to play jazz records
and join in on his drums.
The neighbors were very good, they never complained.
(laughs) I was the neighbor, (laughs) fantastic.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Narrator] With his heroes, Chico Hamilton, Max Roach
and Elvin Jones accompanying him,
it isn't long before a teenage Charlie joins his first band,
The Joe Jones All Stars.
- [Dave] Edgware Jazz Club on the 21st of August 1959.
This is the first recording ever of Charlie.
(bright jazz music)
You can hear his great swing, even there.
(bright jazz music)
- [Narrator] The Charlie Watts sound is taking shape.
But it's about to make a giant leap forward.
Thanks to late night trips to the heart of swinging London.
- It was quite a thing to go to jazz clubs.
There was a few of 'em, the Marquee Club,
Ronnie's Old Place, The Flamingo.
- [Narrator] These clubs in the heart of Soho
are a slice of New York in London.
And for Charlie, yearning the excitement and glamor
of Manhattan's 52nd Street, the street of jazz,
they're intoxicating.
(jazz music) - Hi, fellas.
Let's hear that tune from the top, shall we?
(drums beating)
- [Watts] At 16, I used to go and stare
at these people like Phil Seamen.
I wanted to be that.
- [Max] Phil Seamen was England's answer
to Art Blakey in a way.
(bright upbeat music)
He was the great jazz drummer.
(bright upbeat music)
Charlie would never call himself a jazz drummer,
but he had a jazz drummer sensibility,
and that inflected his playing.
(jazz music)
- He had a looseness about his delivery
that you just couldn't get out of local talent. (laughs)
We were all learning.
The rock beat was only being invented, basically,
as we were happening, he scored himself in that.
- [Courtney] Putting him in a rock and roll band
was really interesting
because you had the concepts of free jazz drummers
but in The Rolling Stones.
(bright upbeat music)
(clapperboard clacks) (gentle upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Charlie's ability to improvise,
be flexible and keep perfect time
is crucial to a band well-known for living on the edge,
and being loose enough to make mistakes.
(gentle music)
- [Max] In the Village Voice,
which was where I saw the ad that led
to my hooking up with Bruce and the E Street Band in 1974,
they had a great section of music want ads,
and invariably you would come across an ad,
"Wanted: Charlie Watts type drummer."
So Charlie Watts, through no initiative of his own,
had become a genre.
- People like Charlie Watts
are very hard to put in a pocket.
They don't make pockets for people like Charlie.
He's a totally unique guy.
- [Sheryl] There are only a few drummers
throughout history that I would say
were artists in their own right,
and he was definitely one of them.
(upbeat music)
- [Gina] You know that iconic beat that he has.
(bright upbeat music)
That (hissing),
everybody knows that Charlie Watts beat.
(upbeat rock music)
- [Lars] He had a playing style,
a feel that was all his own.
(upbeat rock music)
- [Steve] The sound is an open sound
where the drums resonates.
It's a note, it's not a thud whack.
(upbeat jazz music)
- [Jamie] That's a jazz way of thinking,
that drummers have their own sound.
Charlie Watts had a snare sound
which sang throughout the music of The Rolling Stones.
(jazz upbeat music)
- [Stewart] What made him so unique
was that he could rock so hard while being so loose.
He had a very relaxed style
for a very high energy type of music.
(fast-paced music)
(upbeat music fades off)
(gentle upbeat music)
- [Chris] In recording him, I've discovered very early.
Charlie would never play his hi-hat and his snare drum
at the same time. (bright upbeat music)
In not playing the hi-hat at the same time as the snare,
it gives the snare a huge, big open sound.
(gentle upbeat music)
- [Don Was] I'd never heard of that before.
But if you go back and listen to it, it's great.
But it also did something else too.
That extra physical motion, that takes time. (laughs)
And it helped lay back the groove.
That was an important part
of that laid back Rolling Stone sound,
how they could be relaxed and play at slower tempos,
and yet it felt like the thing was charging forward.
(gentle upbeat music)
- [Audience] Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!
Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!
- [Narrator] Charlie's playing style reflect his character.
It's all about The Rolling Stones, not him.
- That's what I do, I play the drums for Keith and Mick.
I don't play 'em for me. (audience applauding)
- [Narrator] But this masks
the deep respect he has for his craft,
standing on the shoulders of giants on his way to the top.
- He had so many different drum kits.
He had Gene Krupa's kit, Art Blakey's kit,
all the famous drummers through the years
that influenced him.
(door creaking)
- [Narrator] And all these amazing artifacts
are kept here at a secret location.
- [Dave] Wow.
- [Narrator] A treasure trove years in the making.
- [Dave] So much stuff.
- [Narrator] Every shelf crammed with musical history.
- He's been saying this for years, actually,
"You must come and see my drum collection."
What have we got here?
Wow, Tony Williams.
And he had this idea of opening a museum.
He said to me, "You must come and see it."
And he wants me to go with Steve.
- Wow, look at that Premier kit there.
Kenny Clarke's kit that he gave to Max Roach.
There must be 100 kits here.
- [Dave] Yeah, yeah.
Joe Morello. Wow.
- [Steve] Yeah, that's the one he used
with Dave Brubeck. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the original cases and everything.
- [Steve Brown] Charlie Parker.
- [Dave] Yeah, it's his horn case.
- [Steve] I don't believe that.
- [Dave] That's incredible.
What have we got here?
DJ Fontana's 1953 Copper Mist Gretsch.
Purchased by Elvis for DJ in Houston.
- [Steve] No way.
- [Dave] Wow.
Elvis put this in the back of the Cadillac
- And drove to. - And drove to the gig,
set it up and played. (laughs)
It's a whole history of drumming here. (chuckles)
- [Steve] It is, jazz and rock and roll.
- [Dave] Yeah.
- [Narrator] Charlie adores what he calls, his stuff.
It's an indulgence paid for by his success
with The Rolling Stones,
and it keeps him sane amidst the madness of rock and roll.
He remains the accidental rock star,
famously reticent about being a Stone.
(audience applauding)
- Because of what I do, I can't play the drums at home.
And to play the drums, I have to go on the road.
And to go on the road, I have to leave home.
And it's like a terribly vicious circle
that's always been my life.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] For a band that has spent
an enormous amount of time on the road
during their 60 years together, it's a nomadic existence,
planes, trains, tour buses, hotels,
and an awful lot of nothing to do.
- [Journalist] You must have done a great deal
of hanging about in 25 years of The Rolling Stones.
- Worked five years and 20 years hanging around.
(journalist laughs)
That bit where the door shuts
and you're on your own in that bloody room.
And it drives you crazy.
I sit there,
but then that's just me.
I should really be downstairs bopping around,
but I'm not like that so it's very hard.
There's this sort of real split thing going on.
It's all right once the sun comes up for me.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Charlie is anything but a rock and roll cliche,
no TVs thrown from windows, no hanging out with groupies,
no dismantling his hotel room,
just his own unique way to while away the hours.
- He drew every bed that slept in every meal, the air,
every hotel room.
- [Charlie] It started in 60 something
and it was something to do.
It's a diary.
And now I can't miss one because I it's like ruined in a day
and a life of, so I just draw every bed that I sleep in.
When I tour with the Rolling Stone.
(gentle music)
- I had the pleasure of him showing me
one of his tour books once,
they're very simple line drawings.
And he'd have like, put your coat here
or a little sign like that,
or mixed with all kinds of details from the room.
And I always said to him, "Charlie, you should release this.
"People want to see them."
"Nobody wants to see this."
I said, "They do Charlie, it's a real eye into your world."
And if he wants to be in my world,
totally underestimated his power as a person.
(suspenseful music)
- [Chuck] There were times when Charlie was OCD.
(indistinct chatter)
He would avoid the cracks in the sidewalk.
He would have to walk down or up a flight of stairs
a certain way or else he would have to go back down
and start it all over.
That was there, that was part of who he was.
- 'Cause I don't actually like touring, you see?
I mean, I don't like living out suitcases.
- One word, particular.
- [Patrick] He's famous for everything,
had to be organized in a certain way,
'cause I would often quiz him.
So how do you do socks then, Charlie?
Do you just roll them into a ball?
"No, you don't wanna roll them into a ball.
"I'll show you if you want."
And there in his room, these beautiful traveling cases
and then the top draw would be the socks.
Well, you fold them in half.
You always put a bit of tissue paper in between.
You see that way that they keep their shape.
- Clothes had a layer of tissue paper between each shirt,
each sock each under pant, each jacket.
Pristine would be the word, not one thing out of place.
- [Charlie] I hate people touching my things. (laughs)
- [Journalist] Do you?
- [Charlie] I hate maids coming in my room in hotels.
I live in hotels a lot of my life,
but I always put, do not disturb.
And sometimes I'm in there for two weeks.
I never have them in there, I hate them in there.
- What is it you hate? - Touching things I have.
(suspenseful music)
- If I went in his room to see him,
if he was turned his back,
I would move a book slightly and sit back down
and he'd turn around.
He'd move book exactly back where it was.
And he'd be picking things up off the floor all the time.
He sometime he'd even done it when he'd been introduced
on stage, he's gone, "Ladies and gentlemen, here's Charlie."
So you go forward a little bit and stop and pick up
a little bit of dirt or a little, whatever it may be.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] On tour, Charlie likes to control
his environment as much as possible.
His dressing room is called the Cotton Club
where he can be found listening to Duke Ellington
before going on stage.
- [Patrick] Cotton Club was written on the door.
If you ever wanted a quiet moment, that was the place to go.
And you would always be welcomed in.
There would be something nice to eat and drink.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] A sea of tranquility
with just a few home comforts.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, what's this? - Take a look at it.
Open it up.
- [Dave] Charlie's touring tea set.
- [Steve] A little cup and a saucer.
- [Dave] (chuckles) Fantastic.
It looks pretty old, isn't it?
- Victorian sort of. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Steve] This one's still got tea in it.
- [Dave] Yeah (laughs)
- [Steve] It's definitely him, isn't it?
- [Dave] Yeah, absolutely (chuckles).
An Englishman on tour. - [Dave] Oh, man.
- [Steve] Put it back before we break it.
- [Dave] Charlie wouldn't like that.
Wonderful.
(playful music)
- [Journalist] How would you describe
the tour that you've had so far?
- Bloody hard work. (audience laughing)
- He secretly enjoyed touring.
He used to say, "No, I don't want to do it."
But I think he thrived on it.
(audience applauding)
He got better looking,
healthier and you could see him thrive as he played.
- I am the one that leaves every, at the end of every tour,
I hate suitcases, I leave the band,
but they won't let you. (laughs)
- Then where we were a little family back there
in a dressing room (chuckles).
Charlie thought I could cut hair
because he'd seen me do my own.
That was about the only time though
that he let me cut his hair. (laughs)
(suspenseful music)
- I love playing the drums
and I love playing with the Rolling Stones.
I mean, my wife always says,
I like, they're more of a drawer, but isn't true.
- [Journalist] Have you thought about taking your wife
around with you?
- She comes on the tour occasionally,
but she doesn't like them, I don't blame her.
I mean, what is it really,
apart from this show and it's all me, it's what I do.
- [Shirley] There was no place for a wife and the tour
there was nothing to do,
and I sat in these dingy hotel rooms and I sketched
and I read and wished I had somewhere else.
I just wanted to be with Charlie so badly.
(eerie music)
But I was complaining to Charlie's mother
once about his absences.
And I think it was just before we got married, she said,
"Oh, don't worry about it."
It'll be over them year.
- [Narrator] Charlie and char are married
for 57 years, devoted to one another.
He misses her on tour,
craving the peace and solitude of home.
(bright upbeat music)
The first Stone to leave London,
he's part of the '60s rockstar exodus
to large country mansions, symbols of wealth and fame.
But with Charlie, it's about more than status,
it's a refuge.
- [Dave] He gave him a peaceful place to live.
I did go to his place in Devon.
(dogs barking)
I think they had 15 dogs.
- Come on.
- He took me around and showed me the horses.
- Oh, it was totally respect for design.
He wasn't trying to be a silly eccentric barn cars
sort of sake, no, he loved every line on that Lagonda,
sitting in it to him was like being in a painting,
And thank you very much.
I'll wear a suit to match the colors of my car
and he'd just sit in and be the part.
(drums beating)
- [Narrator] Charlie is well-known
for his sartorial elegance,
a very modern English country gentleman
far from the wild drummer archetype,
and his fiercely independent spirit stands out
even in a band that redefines freedom of expression.
- I think the look of rock and roll is a bit shabby,
but that's me.
- [Sheryl] He wasn't necessarily dressing the part
of the rock star,
but more of the jazzer who was playing in a rock band.
- Now this is another area where drummers doffed their caps
for old Charlie that he could go out there
in a very expensive suit and play drums.
Whereas, I gotta go out in shorts and a t-shirt.
- [Brian] He was just immaculate.
I don't think he sweated.
- [Lulu] Oh yeah, Charlie bespoke suits, bespoke shirts,
bespoke shoes. (upbeat music)
(gentle music)
- [Charlie] I've got a campaign,
I'm saving the bespoke tailoring industry,
single handed too.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Charlie has a lifetime devotion
to bespoke suits.
Most of which come from his tailor of choice,
Huntsman in Seville Row.
A client for over 50 years, one of their favorites.
He even has a fabric.
His Taylor's nicknamed, the Watts Stripe.
(upbeat music)
- [Dario] I never knew him as Charlie,
I always called him Mr. Watts.
♪ I'm just waiting on a friend ♪
- [Dario] very customer has their own paper pattern.
And most customers have a suit pattern,
maybe an overcoat pattern or something,
The testament to Charlie's eclectic wardrobe,
there's a big bundle of patterns on Charlie's hook.
- [Journalist] A gentleman's tailor is a professional
like a doctor or a solicitor.
If a man wishes to be dressed correctly,
there is only one way,
and that is to patronize the right tailor.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Dario] He had this elegant, relaxed posture.
He's wanted soft flowing garments
that echoed his personality in a lot of ways.
He never wanted to stand out.
He was quite an introvert in a lot of ways.
- He had a very good eye for detail.
His eye for color was great as well.
He'd always put things together well,
and sometimes he'd say,
"Well, we'll make that, but we'll make it like this."
And we'd have a conversation and I'd think,
"Really, are you sure?"
And then we'd do it, and it would work. (chuckles)
- [Charlie] I have this disease,
but I see a swatch and have to have a jacket or something.
- [Dario] One of his favorite things
was to go into the basement in what we call ominously,
the hanging room.
He'd love to rummage and find old lengths of cloth
that have been left or forgotten about.
And we'd make something out of those, and he'd love that.
(dramatic music)
- [Charlie] It comes from my father.
- [Journalist] Did he have a tailor?
Did he take you to his tailor?
- [Charlie] Yeah. Yes.
I thought in those days it was normal practice.
- [Journalist] So what did your father look like?
What kind of suit would he have chosen?
- [Charlie] Actually very much like I wear
a lot of what he liked was late '40s and '50s.
So I live in TCM world, Turner Classic Movies.
(gentle music)
- [Dario] He used to spend a great deal of time, worrying,
fretting about where all these clothes were gonna go.
I think he'd try and drip freedom home so that his wife
didn't see too many, but didn't stop him all drip more,
got some suits here.
Actually, it's a shame, he is never gonna see,
but he tried them and he liked them. (laughs)
So that was good.
(gentle music)
(bright upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Whether it's beats or buttons,
designing a suit or laying down a drum track for Charlie,
it's all about feel.
- He was quite forward thinking and he listened to a lot
of different kinds of music.
In the early days when we were doing
the Exile Main Street record,
everyone else would listen to Jerry Lee Lewis still.
We were listening to like dubbed reggae.
- [Don] He was a way better drummer technically
than anyone ever suspected.
(drums beating)
In 1996, we were trying to make some loops.
We were gonna mess around with drum loops.
So we sent Charlie out in the room, he put on headphones
and we played "The Chronic," Dr. Dre.
(gentle music)
He played those beats, never flammed once.
(gentle music)
He was perfectly honored.
He could be a perfectly time corrected drummer
if he so chose to be,
but he didn't 'cause he knew it
that that would be utterly soulless.
(gentle music)
- [Glyn] Consider the variety of music
Stones have covered within the way Mickey Keith had written
over the years and he's covered
every aspect of what they wanted to do in his sleep.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] The Rolling Stones
have always been musical chameleons
with a keen ear for trends, changing their colors,
to suit the cultural landscape.
- Charlie liked all kinds of dance music.
So when the dance music craze
kind of took off in the mid '70s,
Charlie is really into that.
It's like we talked about before it's all about beats.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] It's the beats of the New York dance floor
that influence the Rolling Stones next new direction.
- It's three in the morning in Manhattan
and still at Studio 54, people crowd the doors
hoping to get in.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Disco is exploding.
And many of the huge hits heard in clubs
are driven by legendary drummer, Earl Young,
pioneer of the four-on-the-floor, disco beat.
(gentle music)
- [Earl] I guess he probably heard something that I did.
And he said, "Well, look, so I can play that.
"I'm gonna put that on one of our records."
He got into the for-on-the-floor
and got the Philly sound there.
(upbeat music)
I said, gee, I should be on there playing that song, man,
got that groove.
♪ Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun ♪
And they rock with their dance group too.
- Most of the time in rock band, it's music for dancing.
And so if you like dancing,
which Charlie was actually a really good dancer.
So it's all to do dancing.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] "Miss You" introduces the Stones
to a new audience and keeps them relevant
as a new decade approaches.
For a blues band with a jazz drummer,
they're not a bad disco act.
- [Max] When you really understand music in general,
whether it's improvisational like jazz
or a three minute rock record, it's all the same.
(upbeat music)
You just take that sensibility and ply it to the song
that's presented and Charlie was the master of that.
(upbeat music)
- "Miss You" is recorded for the album, "Some Girls"
released in 1978, and as ever Charlie's drumming
is the essential ingredient holding it all together.
But behind the scenes, their Mr. Reliable
is having an uncharacteristic wobble.
And I drank a lot.
And then they all go together,
and this is easy life to get hooked up in doing this
especially if you're lucky to be in a position I'm in.
I mean, you can sit here and ever anything fed to you.
If you wanted that sort of life, it would last long,
but you could sort of get into that.
I took a lot of drugs late in life
and didn't do it very well.
So I nearly lost the marriage and my life.
(bright upbeat music)
In the mid '80s, I used to go out at night.
It was ridiculous.
It was a life of a junkie.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Journalist] But how did you manage to resist it
early on for those years?
- I don't know, it was never something I wanted to do.
And it was always around me, but I just wasn't interested.
And then I got a kind of midlife crisis
and became this other person.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Charlie can never really explain
what brings on his midlife crisis.
Maybe it's personal or maybe it's just the Stones themselves
who famously aren't getting along at the time,
or perhaps, he's emulating his jazz heroes
for whom heroin had been a handmade.
- [Charlie] Parker is the classic man.
To be that brilliant and that destructive
is something terribly glamorous to me
about being like that,
it's just the genius really of it all.
- [Journalist] Whatever the cause,
salvation comes from the unlikeliest of places.
- I told him that it's not just you, Charlie. (chuckles)
And also no, the main thing that really worried me
about Charlie at the point was he is drinking.
He was drinking like heavy duty, Cognac and other stuff.
And Charlie was like blowing up.
And if he was dabbling with other stuff,
I didn't really mind.
It was the booze that-
Some people are just...
They're the perfect as they are.
They don't need stimulants, they don't need it.
Us, I'm unfortunate imperfections, hell we need help.
Charlie Watts didn't need any.
He was immaculate conception. (laughs)
Bless his heart.
(gentle music)
- [Charlie] Keith telling me this,
and it stuck, and I just stopped.
- [Narrator] While Charlie was hooked on heroin,
his first addiction remained the strongest, jazz,
and it's time to make a long-held fantasy a reality.
- Let's stay leisurely now.
Final rehearsals were underway
at Ronnie Scott's Club in London today.
(orchestral music)
It's the Charlie Watts Big Band
in rehearsal for their debut next week,
some 33 musicians have joined forces
to bring back that feeling of the Benny Goodman era.
(gentle music)
- [Dave] He has a great supporter of Ronnie Scott's Club
and he wanted to give something back.
The club was going through a bit of a difficult time
at that point financially and was in danger of closing.
- [Charlie] I said that I would bring a band in.
They could keep the proceeds.
- [Dave] He gave that gig to the club.
- [Newsreader] The musicians represent
some of the biggest names in jazz rock in Britain today,
alongside some newer musicians.
♪ Once I was a sentimental thing ♪
- One of those up and coming musicians
is David Bowie's long-time collaborator, Gail Ann Dorsey.
♪ Now spring Roman ♪
- [Gail] This was Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones,
which is one of my favorite bands ever.
I just remember him being just kind of the normal guy
down the pub kind of guy.
I think he was just so happy to be playing jazz.
♪ Oh, I've got to show ♪
- [Narrator] One position filled
(upbeat music)
that only leaves the other 32.
(upbeat music)
- [Charlie] So I brought a list up of people and I thought,
"Who would I like?"
- Jack, Bruce from Cream, Stan Tracy,
the legendary jazz pianist
(jazz music)
and the young prodigy Courtney Pine on saxophone.
(saxophone music)
- [Courtney] Met Charlie, and he looks over to me
and he said, "Yeah, have a good time."
And I just remembered it being an incredible experience.
I'd never been on stage with people like that.
(saxophone music)
It was just an outstanding conceptual idea
for jazz big band,
which I don't think had ever been done before.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Gail] Each night before the show,
I would be sort of peering out going,
"Oh my God, who is walking through the door?"
Each night, there was someone else famous.
It was crazy, Chrissie Hynde and Gil Scott-Heron
and all of the Stones came.
David Bowie came in fact,
and I actually asked, did you remember that was me?
That singing with Charlie Watts Big Band?
- I know Charlie's mom and my mom came down, (chuckles)
Charlie got the limousine, they came to the club,
saw the first hit and then went over the car again. (laughs)
(soft music)
- [Gail] I just remember him smiling a lot. (chuckles)
I think in his head he was like, "Yeah, fulfilling,
"is something that he really always wanted to do."
- [Courtney] Smiling, smiling, smiling.
'Cause he realized he was a part of an amazing creation.
And it really was a turning point for me, for my career.
And for that, I'll be ever grateful to Charlie Watts.
(soft music)
- [Dave] The place was packed every night
'cause it was Charlie's Big Band,
probably did save the club from closing.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] Charlie's Big Band holiday reinvigorates him.
(audience applauding)
So when his other band get back on the road,
(audience applauding)
there's a renewed sense of purpose.
This is an era when the Stones fully embrace their billing
as pioneers of stadium rock,
their tours become ever more elaborate.
But at the heart of all the extravagance and innovation,
some things never change.
(upbeat music)
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Start me up ♪
♪ Start me up from every side ♪
(drums beating)
- [Journalist] How do you power
the greatest rock and roll band in the world
with what looks like a starter drum kit?
- [Charlie] I don't know.
All that is how you set up, how you play.
And some people need lots of drum.
I mean a lot of times they just for show.
- [Slash] It's just this old, very sort of funky
little four piece kit (chuckles)
and the snare looked like it was from like the 30s.
And I guess he'd been playing that same snare
for God knows how long.
And it just was something very endearing about the humanity
and his setup for this massive production that was going on
stuck with me.
- The mystery inspired me I think with Charlie,
is because he's such a laid back, well- dressed gentleman
was going like that.
Then it's like a firework explosion when he plays the drums
with no effort, it was the most amazing feeling
to have him behind you in the engine room.
(upbeat music)
- [Stewart] Youngsters like me,
we like to have a lot of things to bang on,
but Charlie, his fundamental purpose on the planet
was groove and he had all the equipment he needed
to do just that and no more.
- [Glyn] Most drummers when they get
into a big rock and roll band
and they're playing stadiums and they get a kit,
the size of the stage,
Charlie never changed anything at all.
He started with four drums
and I'm pretty sure that's how he ended up.
(drums beating)
- It was an amazing thing to drive the Stones like he did.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] From his very first gig
with The Rolling Stones in '63,
to his last ever show, 58 years later,
Charlie is the calm, reassuring presence at the back,
holding it all together. (audience applauding)
- [Audience] Charlie, Charlie!
(audience applauding)
With the embodiment of rock and roll to the left of him
and a truly global superstar to the right,
Charlie is stuck in the middle physically and emotionally,
but with his grounded,
no nonsense approach to fame and rock and roll.
He was and is still the soul of the band.
- [Jon] Charlie was that silent leader,
the elder they'll knock you in the nose
if you say the wrong word,
but on the other hand,
there's nobody that you'd rather have by your side.
(gentle music)
- [Bernard] You never saw a Charlie riffled.
And when the two of them, when they get ruffled,
Charlie smiles, he sit back there and looks at him and says,
"Oh for God's sakes, Bernard, what are they on about?"
He was the equalizer.
- [Patrick] He was a very safe haven
in complicated group of people.
- [Jane] Charlie was the rock and they both loved him
and he loved both of them and he's apolitical.
(group laughing)
- [Bernard] Charlie speaks, they both listen,
whether it goes to the Mick side or the Keith side,
Charlie will decide that.
I miss that cad.
(gentle music)
- [Max] He famously had a little coat hanger
on the stand that you get in hotels.
And that's where he would hang his jacket.
And hanging over the coat stand
was a sign that said, "Open or closed."
And when Charlie was playing the drums,
it would say, "Open,"
and when he wasn't, it would say, "Closed."
And the only person who'd changed it was Charlie.
(gentle music)
(drums beating)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music continues)