Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died at the age of 80. Unlike his flamboyant bandmates, Watts was known to be relatively reserved, providing a solid percussion groove informed by his jazz background and instincts. He toured with the Stones until just two years ago, providing a beat that defined such songs as (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Paint It Black, and Honky Tonk Women. What was a Jewish connection in Charlie Watts’s life?

Charlie Watts, Statesboro, Georgia, May 4, 1965 by Steve Denenberg is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A. The Rolling Stones played a concert in Tel Aviv in 2014, and on that trip Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood visited the Western Wall. Said Watts, “As I walked toward the wall, an old bearded guy approached me and asked if I was Jewish. He was holding some things in his hands with leather straps. I was really tempted to say yes just to see where this was going. But Ronnie jumped in and said we weren’t, and that was the end of that.”

B. Charlie’s best friend in secondary school (middle school in England) was a Jewish boy named Eddie Goldberg. Said Watts, “I remember going to his house for a seder. I never saw food like that. I was used to bangers and mash. That gefilte fish was too much for me.”

C. Watts originally trained as a graphic artist, and he used this skill to contribute to the Rolling Stones stage sets, merchandise and album covers. While still a student at the Harrow School of Art in London, one of his first projects was to design a ketubah for the upcoming wedding of a fellow student.

D. One of Watts’s first professional gigs was as the drummer for a band who primarily played at Jewish wedding receptions. Said Watts, “I never knew what the hell was going on.”

E. Early in the band’s history, they were playing at a Purim party for the London Maccabi GB Youth Organization. On a break the band went to get some food from the buffet table, and Charlie was disappointed that one of the trays was empty. He went off to speak to a catering employee who explained that those were hamantaschen, but that there were no more left. Angry, Charlie went back to Mick Jagger to tell him of the conversation, but he had difficulty remembering what the food was called. “Mick,” he said. “I can’t get no...I can’t get no...I can’t get no...hamantaschen. No hamantaschen. NO HAMANTASCHEN!”

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