Life in a bubble can get a little self-absorbed. When Watts passed away this week, it was a reminder for some of life outside our lockdown, overseas and distant.
Our first thoughts are always with our family and friends, but emotions heighten in lockdown.
There would have been many music fans in New Zealand allowing themselves a moment of melancholy when they heard of Watts' death.
Watts and Ginger Baker (Cream) both rose to prominence in the 1960s, from jazz backgrounds.
Baker, though, played drums with an aggressive, simmering menace, which at times suggested he was about to leap over his kit and attack the singer.
Watts once attacked the Stones' singer Mick Jagger.
Jagger and Keith Richards had returned from a few drinks at a late hour.
At the hotel, Jagger was attempting to rally band members and their entourage from their beds. He phoned Watts' room and demanded 'where's my drummer'.
Watts eventually arrived downstairs, impeccably attired, to belt Jagger in the head, grab him by his dandy lapels and tell him 'don't ever call me your drummer again'.
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts - salt of the earth. Cartoon / Rod Emmerson
In his autobiography Life, Richards wrote it was a punch delivered with a drummer's 'snap', and one of the few times he ever saw Watts lose his cool.
On stage, Watts was an epitome of cool.
You didn't need to be a fan of the Stones to appreciate his nonchalance, and metronomic ability, delivered with a swing thanks to that jazz training.
Ginger Baker attacked his drum kit. Watts became one with his.
He wasn't a drummer who would rise to his feet and theatrically count the band in.
Listen to Beggars Banquet, and count the number of songs that start with Richard's guitar, before Watts seamlessly enters.
Beggars Banquet is the first album of what many music fans consider the greatest consecutive run of studio albums ever produced. Yep, even better than the Beatles.
Beggars Banquet (1968), Let it Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main Street (1972) and Goats Head Soup (1973) were all produced by Jimmy Miller, and also track the departure of lead guitarist Brian Jones, and the arrival of Mick Taylor.
The first track on Beggars Banquet is the Stone(s) cold classic Sympathy for the Devil. It's a great showcase for Watts' ability.
The last is Salt of the Earth, a unique Stones track.
It starts with the strained vocals of Keith Richards, before Jagger takes over. No drums.
Watts doesn't show up until 1min 20 seconds into the song, but when he does, it's with a drum riff that prefaces an uplifting chorus, as the song lifts off into classic ear-space.
It's an ode to the 'hardworking people, the salt of the earth ... the humble of birth'.
