Music Friday: 'I Dug Up a Diamond' With Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you a great selection of songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we feature Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris singing "I Dug Up a Diamond" from their collaborative 2006 album, All the Roadrunning.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Knopfler is best known for his 18-year run as the lead guitarist and front man for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977. The four-time Grammy Award winner is one of the most respected guitarists of the modern rock era. Rolling Stone magazine rated him 27th on its prestigious list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Knopfler and Dire Straits have sold more than 120 million albums.

Twelve-time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris has enjoyed a stellar career that has spanned more than four decades. In addition to her success as a songwriter, musician and solo artist, the Alabama native has been the go-to duet partner for some of the top names in the music business, including Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

Check out the sweet harmonies of Harris and Knopfler as they perform "I Dug Up a Diamond" during their 2006 "All The Roadrunning" tour. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"I Dug Up a Diamond"

Written by Mark Knopfler. Performed by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.

I dug up a diamond
Rare and fine
I dug up a diamond
In a deep dark mine
If only I could cling to
my beautiful find
I dug up a diamond
In a deep dark mine

My gem is special
Beyond all worth
As strong as any metal
Or stone in the earth
Sharp as any razor
Or blade you can buy
Bright as any laser
Or any star in the sky

Maybe once in a lifetime
You'll hold one in your hand
Once in a lifetime
In this land
Where the journey ends
In a worthless claim
Time and again
In the mining game

I dug up a diamond
Rare and fine
I dug up a diamond
In a deep dark mine
Down in the darkness
In the dirt and the grime
I dug up a diamond
In a deep dark mine

Siberian Meteorite Crater Holds 'Trillions of Carats' of Diamonds, Say Russian Scientists

Russian scientists divulged over the weekend the existence of "trillions of carats" of super-hard diamonds – enough to supply global markets for the next 3,000 years – at the site of a meteorite crater in eastern Siberia. But here's the rub... the diamonds are industrial grade.

According to a report in the The Christian Science Monitor, the enormous diamond riches were found at Popigai Astroblem, the 62-mile-wide crater that was formed 35 million years ago when a meteor crashed into the earth. The incredible force and heat generated by the impact was probably a contributing factor to how the diamonds were formed.

The discovery of diamonds at the crater had been kept a secret since the 1970s, when the territory was part of the former Soviet Union. Officials chose to leave this enormous resource out of the spotlight and unexploited because their existing industrial diamond production was already generating huge profits and they didn't want to disrupt the global diamond markets, according to various reports.

Industrial-grade diamonds

The news finally came to light this past weekend after the Russian government declassified the information and permitted scientists from the Novosibirsk Institute of Geology and Mineralogyto talk about it with journalists.

Although some may worry that the immense source of new diamonds is going to have a softening effect on diamond prices, the Popigai diamonds are suitable only for industrial and scientific purposes and shouldn't have any effect on the jewelry market.

Russian scientists said the diamonds of Popigai are actually twice as hard as common diamonds. This is quite a feat because diamonds are already the hardest natural substance known to man. Dubbed "impact diamonds," the huge reserve of superhard material is believed to be the result of a meteor plowing into a graphite deposit at high velocity.

The scientists estimated the trillions of carats in diamond reserves contained in the Popigai crater to be 10 times greater than all the world's known diamond reserves.

Why Is Blake Lively So Happy? She Landed the Hunky Green Lantern and a Dazzling 12-Carat Pink Diamond Ring

When they met last year on the set of Green Lantern, he was the masked and muscular title character and she was his beautiful love interest, Carol Ferris. Now a year later, actor Ryan Reynolds and actress Blake Lively have made it official, as they wed in South Carolina on September 9, vowing to “support and love each other and to make each other laugh.”

People Magazine was on the spot when the Gossip Girl starlet flashed her breathtaking engagement ring on Sunday in Charleston, S.C. Instantly, the internet was buzzing about how big the diamond was and how much it cost. The ring, which was designed by celebrity jeweler Lorraine Schwartz, features a flawless oval-cut pink diamond supported by delicate rose gold bands circled with smaller white diamonds.

A jewelry expert told Celebuzz.com that the ring "looks particularly brilliant." He estimated the diamond total weight to be roughly 12 carats and guessed that the retail value of the ring was somewhere between $1.2 and $2 million.

A spokesperson for the jeweler said that Schwartz and Reynolds "worked together to design a custom setting in rose gold and pavé diamonds with a nod to deco.” Lively also wears a matching rose gold wedding band accented by a series of delicate diamonds.

Reynolds, 35, was previously married to another Hollywood starlet, Scarlett Johansson. Although this was the Lively's first trip down the aisle, the 25-year-old has been linked romantically to actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgely.

'Over the Top' Engagement Ring Styles Express Your Personal Pizzazz

If you're a bride-to-be looking for an engagement ring that expresses your personal pizzazz and fashion-forward sensibility, then you may want to start your search by reviewing some of the "over-the-top" designs featured in today's blog posting.

While natural colored diamonds are often seen in pink, yellow or blue, other varieties – including orange, green and grey – are strikingly beautiful and far from the ordinary.

Recently, Glamour blogger Kim Fusaro published a collection of engagement ring styles that challenge the conventional wisdom of what an engagement ring should look like. The rings below were designed by an Israeli company, Seren Diamond, but we encourage you to use this as a guide and contact us about other colorful options and variations on these themes.

Emerald-cut 2.58-carat fancy light pink diamond accented by white diamonds. Pear-shape 1.38-carat fancy gray-blue diamond with trillion side diamonds.

Radiant-cut 3.02-carat fancy intense yellow diamond with trapeze side stones. Radiant-cut 0.94-carat fancy intense green diamond framed with pink diamonds and accented with white diamonds on the band.

Round 0.92-carat fancy yellowish-green center diamond with fancy vivid yellow-orange and fancy intense greenish-yellow side diamonds; white and pink diamond accents. Marquise-cut 3.11-carat fancy intense yellow-orange diamond with fancy deep grayish-yellowish-green "Chameleon" diamond side stones and white diamond accents.

1.88-carat fancy deep grayish-blue oval diamond framed with small pink diamonds and adorned with larger white diamonds. Pear-shape 4.06-carat fancy intense orangy-pink diamond, with pear-shape fancy intense blue side diamonds.

$100,000 iPhone 5 Case Features 2,830 Blue Sapphires, 28 Rubies and a Single Green Sapphire

The iPhone 5 officially hits retail outlets on September 21 and the world is abuzz with anticipation. Lines started forming outside the Cube (Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City) this past Friday, a full week before the iPhone 5 could be purchased at the store.

If you're lucky enough to get your hands on one of the 45 million iPhone 5s that are expected to be sold through this holiday season, you may want to protect it with a blinged out 18-karat white gold case set with 2,830 natural blue sapphires, 28 natural rubies in the shape of the Apple symbol and a single marquise-cut green sapphire representing the Apple leaf. The total weight of all the gemstones exceeds 172 carats and the price tag is $100,000.

Conceived by The Natural Sapphire Company, New York, the gem-encrusted iPhone 5 case can be ordered in custom variations. One suggestion from the company is a platinum case set with yellow or pink sapphires. The company reports that their gemstones are sourced from mines in Africa, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Thailand.

If you love the bling but need to stay within a more modest budget, a company called Crystal Rocked just released an iPhone 5 case blazing with more than 1,300 Swarovski crystals. Handcrafted in London, the cases are made from a hard-shell plastic with a wall thickness of 1mm. The cases are chromed to offer extra strength and to give the crystal a higher sparkle. The price tag: $242.

Reviewers report that the main difference between the iPhone 5 and its iPhone predecessor is its taller, thinner design. The display now measures 4 inches diagonally (up from 3.5 inches), which gives the user an extra row of icons and more space for browsing, apps, and movies. The device runs on a faster chip, boasts camera improvements and has an extra microphone. Prices for the new model range from $199 for the 16GB model to $399 for the 64GB version. These prices reflect a two-year contract with a phone carrier.

How hot is the new iPhone 5? Well, a J.P. Morgan economist reported that the new Apple release could actually alter the trajectory of the U.S. economy. Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist for J.P. Morgan, estimated that booming sales of the iPhone 5 and its ancillary products could boost the U.S. gross domestic product by more than $12 billion or .33 percentage points over the next 12 months. Wow.