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RIP Charlie Watts: You Can Lose The Backbeat
August 25, 2021
As Chuck Berry so famously penned in the opening lines of "Roll Over Beethoven":
Just let me hear some of that rock and roll musicAny old way you choose itIt's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Sadly, we have lost that backbeat with the death of Stones' drummer Charlie Watts.
There was a time when it was the Beatles and then the Rolling Stones. Now, it's just Paul, Ringo, Mick, and Keith -- and Keith will never, ever die; he will outlast the last cockroach.
As a teenager, my fingertips blistered as I tried to learn "Satisfaction" on my first electric guitar, which had, like, you know, no action, none at all, but, still, I was happy to learn that the song was only three chords, although I struggled to play the damn B chord, and then I realized the amazing riff was, like, wow, only three notes, and at some point it all came together, and I played rhythm while Bill Wyman played bass and Charlie kept the steady backbeat.
And so, today, the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog pauses to honor Charlie Watts.