#Keith has a contract specifically about care and protection of Charlie that has to be signed in blood

[waugh-bao]

Love how every time Charlie is asked about Ronnie it boils down to: "He's a great musician,he's dumb, and I love him."

And there is a quote that says exactly that from 2002:

"I still tend to think that Ronnie only joined The Stones a couple of years ago, but it’s actually a hell of a long time. He’s a great guy to be on tour with - he’s daft as well, but he’s a nice person.”

Basically, 'he's dumb but he's sweet so I told Mick and Keith they could keep him.'

Other greatest hits from Charlie on Ronnie include:

"He has the attention span of a gnat."

"He's not at all sensible, Ronnie. It's not his role. He's a maniac."

"It's very difficult to keep a straight face with Ronnie. Either he's doing something really stupid, and he doesn't know it, or he knows it, and they're both very funny."

"He's not a grown-up."

And that time he joked that, now they'd had him for 40 years it was time to fire him.

In seriousness, though, he did always have the highest praise for him as a guitar player.

When it came down to it, he did a lot for Ronnie, especially during his first days in the band and post-WWIII.

Ronnie's first gig as a Rolling Stone was the flatbed truck on 5th Avenue in 1975. All Charlie's idea (it was an old jazz band trick from the '30s), and maybe the most spectacular way to make one's debut as a Stone.

Depending upon who's telling the story, the second person vacillates between being Keith or Bill, but Charlie is always mentioned as the biggest advocate for Ronnie becoming a full member of the band. Ronnie in 2003:

"Before we went to Japan, on the Steel Wheels tour, my pals Charlie and Bill stood up for me. They said, Are you earning as much as we are? and I said, No. So they said, Unless you earn as much as us, we're not going to carry on. They brought this up at a meeting and I thought, Thank you very much! 

Bill and Charlie were very supportive. They made a stand for me without me having to beg and say, I'm being unfairly treated. They said, Ronnie's slaved away as hard as we have and he's not getting as much as us. And the rest of the band said, Right, OK, we'll finally end your apprenticeship, you're finally part of the band."

All of this was in addition to Charlie helping Ronnie with his kids, assisting him in sobriety, being the best man in his wedding to Jo, acting as his chief artistic critic, playing drums for his most successful solo record, etc.

It should be said that, while I don't think Ronnie is going to be receiving a Fulbright scholarship anytime soon, he's no idiot when it comes to Charlie.

He had a very incisive read not just on his excellence as a drummer or as a person (though he praised both often), but on Charlie's inability to see why he was so loved and admired:

Whenever they were in interviews together, he never let Charlie get away with putting himself down:

So, you know, maybe Keith wasn't quite that ridiculous in getting a little worried Ronnie was going to steal the spot of favorite he (thought) he had:

#vis-a-vis Ronnie always going against Charlie's criticism of himself #I'm sure he believed it #but I'm also pretty sure that when one becomes a Stones guitar player #Keith has a contract specifically about care and protection of Charlie that has to be signed in blood #'do you swear that if anyone threatens Charlie you will chase after them with a broken vodka bottle in the tradition of the stones?' #anyway I'm finally done grad work so now I'm catching up on asks #sorry that took so long #the rolling stones #ronnie wood #charlie watts #old married band #mick jagger #keith richards #young married band #anonymous #ask response