yes indeed
Yes - (I played) drums on... Sleep Tonight - I could never get over the thought of playing instead of Charlie, I thought that would be a sacrilege, but he insisted because he was going through a lot of problems at the time and couldn't be at the studio. Keith said, Right, you're on drums, so I finally hacked it into shape and when Charlie got there I gave him the sticks and he said, No, I can't get it right, you play it. It worked out good.
- Ron Wood, 1988
On Too Rude, I got to play the drums. That was when Charlie was going through a terrible time with Shirley. They were having lots of heavy arguments and so Charlie was often late, or Shirley would come into the studio and forcibly drag him out. On one of those nights Keith said, All right, you're on drums, Ronnie... The drum sound was very dynamic: I ended up sounding like Solomon Burke's drummer. I was very proud of it, actually.
- Ron Wood, 2003
although Keith seems to think otherwise re : 'Too Rude'
Too Rude is a song I picked up in Jamaica when I was living there in the summer of '84. When we were starting these sessions five months later, I found the tape and this song was driving into my brain. I drove everybody mad with it. I had no intention of cutting it, but it was my own little talisman. I made a tape of it going around and around that I'd play on the way to the studio. Every day I'd jump in the car and put on this stape of Too Rude for the twenty-minute drive. After about six weeks of this, nobody wanted to drive with me. Then it started to get to Woody. One night he and I had gotten there first, Charlie walked in, and we started to play it. By now this song is insisting on being on this album. That song said, I'm in! It wasn't anything to do with me. I believe that songs arrive at your doorstep and all you do is give them an airing.
- Keith Richards, 1986
(from
http://www.timeisonourside.com)
I guess it's safe to say that Steve wasn't at the sessions anywhere near as often as Ronnie was!