17 July 2026, 11:46
Picture:
Alamy
Steve Jordan is The Rolling Stones’ drummer but there still may be some Charlie Watts songs in the tank.
When Charlie Watts died in 2021 it was the end of an era for The Rolling Stones.
After their very earliest days with future Kinks player Mick Avory, then Tony Chapman, and then Carlo Little behind the kit, Watts joined the band way back in 1963 and was a key player and character in the band till his passing.
The Stones’ 2023 comeback album Hackney Diamonds was the first released after Charlie’s death, but years in the making it still featured his drumming on two songs: ‘Mess It Up’ and ‘Live by the Sword’.
And while the bulk of the drumming and percussion on this year’s follow-up Foreign Tongues came from Watts’s replacement Steve Jordan, the album also included more of Charlie’s work.
Watts played not just on ‘Hit Me in the Head’, but also the acclaimed iTunes bonus track ‘Bad Luck Hideaway’.
The Rolling Stones – Hit Me In The Head (Official Visualiser)
Talking to Billboard about the album, Keith Richards said: “It’s a hell of a thing to lose Charlie Watts. Thank God that Charlie and Steve were like that [Crosses fingers]. so it was never any real hassle.
“Charlie Watts said, ‘If I’m not there, put Steve in’. So we were sort of under orders. It was important just to get this version of the Stones down on record.”
And Mick Jagger added: “We had a good track with Charlie and we’ve got other tracks with Charlie.
“I keep reading this is Charlie’s final appearance – well, we’ve got other tracks with Charlie.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.goldradio.com ’
