Songs About Jewelry
by Dan Day, Exclusively for Fire Mountain Gems and Beads®
When you're a jewelry maker, it's always fun and interesting to hear a song that refers to jewelry. The lyrics can use diamonds, gold, silver, rings, hoops, charms or beads. They can be happy, sad or even angry. Whatever the message may be, adding jewelry is a good way to spice up a song. These songs also provide some talking points about inspiration and artistry.
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"Rings" - Leo Kottke
A song about several types of rings: telephone, doorbell and wedding. The song was written by another songwriter "on spec" for a couple's wedding ceremony. Leo wasn't aware of that; he just thought the song had more universal appeal. The lesson here: go with your artistic instincts.
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Said, ring, ring, golden ring around the sun, around your pretty finger. |
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"Band of Gold" - Freda Payne
A big hit from 1980.
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Now that you're gone, all that's left is a band of gold. |
| "Big Hoops (Bigger the Better)" - Nelly Furtado
Just a song having good times.
I'll be there till dawn
I'm going down, I've got my big hoops on |
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| "Good Luck Charm" - Elvis
He's singing about the real-life charms, but we sell the next best thing. You can even create a necklace that displays the charms mentioned in the song.
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Don't want a four leaf clover |
Don't want an old horse shoe
Want your kiss 'cause I just can't miss
With a good luck charm like you |
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"Flowers and Beads" - Iron Butterfly
From the psychedelic '60s, this tune is by the same folks who brought you "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (which is a drunken rendition of "in the garden of Eden"). We need more songs about flowers and beads, don't we?
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Don'tcha think my love is true? |
Flowers and beads are one thing,
But havin' a girl is something. |
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| "Diamond Girl" - Seals and Crofts
One of those songs you probably first think of when coming up with jewelry-related song titles.
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Diamond Girl - you sure do shine |
Glad I found you - glad you're mine
Oh my love you're like a precious stone |
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"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" - The Beatles
Great song title and trippy lyrics from the mind of John Lennon, who was always very open about where his inspiration came from. He says he got inspiration for his song from his young son Julian's drawing of a classmate. Julian described it to his father as "Lucy in the sky with diamonds." John swears he did not realize the song title's initials spelled out L-S-D, psychedelic drug popular in the '60s. It's a great story and an example for jewelry-makers to keep your eyes and ears open for inspiration that may be staring you right in the face.
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...tangerine trees marmalade skies... |
...the girl with kaleidoscope eyes...
...cellophane flowers of yellow and green... |
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| "Dupree's Diamond Blues" - The Grateful Dead
It tells a sad tale, courtesy the band's resident lyricist Robert Hunter. He reworked the lyrics of a folk song "Betty and Dupree" (there were at least three versions) which was based on a true incident.
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Well baby, baby wants a gold diamond ring |
Wants it more than most any old thing...
Down to the jewelry store packing a gun...
Many a man's done a terrible thing, just to get baby that shiny diamond ring |
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"For Your Love" - The Yardbirds
The exotic musical setting of harpsichord and bowed cello both contrasted and reinforced the lyrical sentiment. As musician Steve Miller once put it, "It's like trout fishing; it's all in the presentation." Choosing the right materials for songwriting and jewelry-making is good, presenting them in the proper setting is even better.
I'd bring you diamond rings and things right to your door
(For your love)
To thrill you with delight,
I'd give you diamonds bright |
"Diamonds are Girl's Best Friend" - T-Bone Burnett
A good rockin' version of the song made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The song is a tongue-in-cheek examination of how women exploit men for their riches.
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But square-cut or pear-shaped, |
These rocks don't lose their shape.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
Diamonds! Diamonds!
I don't mean rhinestones!
But diamonds are a girl's best friend. |
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"Three Diamonds" from The Boss Bruce Springsteen
Diamonds can also be a songwriter's best friend. Case in point: Bruce Springsteen is a firm (Mohs hardness 10) believer in the lyrical power of diamonds. Just goes to show you, if you like something and it works well for you, why not use it. Same thing applies to jewelry making: if you like using a material or technique and it works well for you, then why not use it as much as you want.
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"Happy": Some need gold and some need diamond rings |
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"Candy's Room": She has fancy clothes and diamond rings |
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"Ain't Got You": I got a big diamond watch sittin' on my wrist |
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"This Diamond Ring" - Gary Lewis and The Playboys
This song is almost totally about the ring.
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Who wants to buy this diamond ring? |
She took it off her finger, now it doesn't mean a thing
This diamond ring doesn't shine for me anymore
And this diamond ring doesn't mean what it meant before
This stone is genuine like love should be
And if your baby's truer than my baby was to me
This diamond ring can mean something beautiful
And this diamond ring can mean dreams that are coming true |
Best Jewelry Songwriter
Bob Dylan, the Nobel Poet Laureate, has used jewelry imagery in several songs. Always one to thwart expectations, he supplied one his songs ("Love Sick") and appeared in commercial for Victoria's Secret lingerie stores. But he is the hands-down winner (in this list, at least) of jewelry usage in pop/rock songwriting:
| "She Belongs to Me"
She's got an Egyptian ring that sparkles before she speaks |
| "One More Cup of Coffee"
Your breath is sweet/your eyes are like two jewels in the sky |
| "Boots of Spanish Leather"
Something fine made of silver or of golden
either from the mountains of Madrid
or from the coast of Barcelona
diamonds from the deepest ocean |
Grand Prize Winner - Best Use of Jewelry Imagery in a Song: Bob Dylan
"Isis"
The song tells a story the quest for love, marriage and lost love.
| I was thinkin' about turquoise
I was thinkin' about gold
I was thinkin' about diamonds
and the world's biggest necklace |
These songs may take you back on a trip through memory lane of open up new doors of perception. Either way, perhaps these song titles and lyrics will inspire you to create your own jewelry expressions. What would you create for your jewelry piece titled Diamonds and Rust, Flowers and Beads, Egyptian Ring That Sparkles, Sapphire Tinted Skies, Barcelona Silver, Ruby in the Dust ...?
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